Yasuhisa Kurose

Mr. Kurose has a particular interest in improving patent quality while reducing the total cost by enhancing communication between a Japanese client and its U.S. attorney in charge.

For example, when preparing an English patent application and claims, Mr. Kurose carefully prepares the English translation including proposals to amendments while communicating with the Japanese client and the U.S. attorney in charge. Through this process, an appropriate English specification and claims with broader coverage and appropriate expression can be provided, resulting in a first office action directed to non-formality rejections.

When responding to an office action, Mr. Kurose assists both the Japanese client and the U.S. Patent attorney in charge. Normally, a Japanese client reviews an office action and prepares instructions, and the U.S. attorney will prepare a response based on the instructions. However, Mr. Kurose believes the above procedure is inadequate for obtaining broader and stronger protection in the U.S.  The instructions are often prepared without considering U.S. practice such that the U.S. patent attorney merely follows the instructions from a Japanese client. Mr. Kurose will communicate with the Japanese client and forwards the information obtained from the Japanese client to the U.S. attorney as well as communicates with the U.S. attorney to provide feedback on his/her excellent strategy to the Japanese client. Through this enhanced communication, broader and stronger protection is obtained for Japanese clients.