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High Court Rejects Matsushita's Patent Claim Against Justsystem

Posted on: Friday, 30 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

Tokyo, Sept. 30 (Jiji Press)--A high court Friday rejected Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.'s patent claim against Justsystem Co. , the maker of the popular "Ichitaro" Japanese word- processing software, reversing a lower court's ruling.

The Intellectual Property High Court ruled that the patent that Matsushita obtained on its word-processing software program in 1998 is invalid and that the company cannot execute patent rights.

At issue is Matsushita's on-screen help feature that displays explanations about specific software functions and that can be activated by dragging an icon.

"Such a design could easily be devised on the basis of an innovation that was made overseas two months before Matsushita applied for the patent," Presiding judge Katsumi Shinohara said. Matsushita's feature contains nothing innovative, the judge said.

Matsushita claimed that the help facility used in Justsystem's Ichitaro and its "Hanako" graphics software infringed on its patent and sued the software maker.

In February, Tokyo District Court ruled in favor of Matsushita, banning Justsystem from selling the application programs and ordering it to scrap the inventories.

Because Justsystem appealed, however, the court's ruling did not take effect.

Justsystem has sold more than 18 million copies of Ichitaro since its release in 1985.END

Source: Jiji Press English News Service

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