Publication of the “Guidelines for Patent Infringement Lawsuits Involving Standard Essential Patents

Publication of the “Guidelines for Patent Infringement Lawsuits Involving Standard Essential Patents” by the Intellectual Property Divisions of the Tokyo District Court

In January 2026, the Intellectual Property Divisions of the Tokyo District Court (the “TDC IP Division”) published the “Guidelines for Patent Infringement Lawsuits Involving Standard Essential Patents” (the “Guidelines”)^[1]. The Guidelines set out important points regarding patent infringement lawsuits involving standard essential patents (“SEPs”; and such lawsuits, “SEP Lawsuits”)^[2]. Based on the Guidelines, it appears that the TDC IP Division’s strong intention is for new SEP Lawsuits to be resolved through a settlement-oriented framework centered on the formation of an agreement on licensing royalties under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (“FRAND”) terms for the SEP holder’s entire global SEP portfolio including the SEPs at issue (such licensing royalties, the “Global FRAND Royalty”), and for such agreement on the Global FRAND Royalty to comprehensively resolve all future SEP Lawsuits involving the Global FRAND Royalty filed in Japan. In this regard, the Guidelines will have a significant impact on SEP Lawsuits in Japan and possibly may influence strategies for choosing to commence SEP Lawsuits in Japan.

We provide below a flowchart and our comments on the presumed progression of proceedings in a SEP Lawsuit in light of the Guidelines and notable points regarding the Guidelines.

View original article here.

Authors: Kenji Tosaki (Partner), Takahiro Hatori (Partner), Yujiro Fukuhara

Endnotes

^[1] Our unofficial English translation of the Guidelines is provided as an annex to this update for reference purposes only. The Guidelines (in Japanese) are published on the website of the Tokyo District Court (URL: https://www.courts.go.jp/tokyo/saiban/minzi_section29_40_46_47/SEP_tokkyoken_shingai/index_2.html) (last accessed: March 23, 2026). As of March 23, 2026, the Intellectual Property Divisions of the Osaka District Court have not published guidelines for SEP-based patent infringement lawsuits similar to the Guidelines.

^[2] In the Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. v. Apple Japan GK case, the Intellectual Property High Court, in its judgment of May 16, 2014, ruled that Samsung, the patent holder, was not entitled to seek an injunction against Apple to stop sales of certain Apple products based on its finding that “Apple Inc. and Apple Japan have a willingness to obtain a license on FRAND terms” and concluded that “the exercise of the injunction right based on the patent right in question constitutes an abuse of rights (Article 1(3) of the Civil Code).” After that decision, there were virtually no court decisions addressing this issue until early 2025. However, on June 23, 2025, in the Pantech v. Google case, the Tokyo District Court issued a judgment (the “Tokyo District Court Judgment”) granting an injunction based on a FRAND-committed SEP for the first time in Japan. For a summary of the Tokyo District Court Judgment and its significance, please see our firm’s newsletter “The Japanese court first judgment to grant an injunction based on a FRAND‑committed SEP” (NO&T IP Law Update No.16 (November, 2025)).