On the occasion of Professor Ryu Takabayashi's final lecture (Tatsuhiro UENO)
* The following was prepared for the final lecture (March 11, 2023) by Professor Ryu Takabayashi (Professor Emeritus at Waseda University, RCLIP Advisor, and Lawyer). I would like to introduce it again here.
Prof. Ryu Takabayashi was born in Miyazaki Prefecture on December 12, 1952, and after graduating from high school in Tokyo, he entered the Faculty of Law at Waseda University and graduated from the Faculty of Law in March 1976.
Judge's time
After passing the bar examination, Prof. Takabayashi underwent two years of judicial training at the Judicial Training Institute from 1976 before pursuing a career as a judge. After being appointed as an assistant judge at the Tokyo District Court in 1978, he served as a judge of the Naha District Court, the Tokyo District Court, and the Matsuyama District Court, but in particular, from 1983 to 1986, in the Intellectual Property Division of the Tokyo District Court, he formed a judicial body with Judge Toshiaki Makino and Judge Toshiaki Iimura, and was involved in the Pac-Man case (Tokyo District Judge Showa 59, September 28, 59). He was in charge of a number of intellectual property cases, including the Leonard Fujita case (Tokyo District Court, August 31, 59 [first instance]) and the Tokyo District Court, March 3, 61 [first instance]).
Later, in 1990, he was appointed as a Supreme Court Investigator (a post in which the best judges are selected to assist Supreme Court justices in their hearings), and by 1995 he was mainly in charge of intellectual property cases. The so-called "Commentary on Supreme Court Precedents" (Bar Association) also contains six commentaries on precedents written by Dr. Takabayashi, including the clip case related to the patent law (March 19, 3), the high-speed swirling barrel polishing law case (April 28, 4, 2004), and the trademark law. It includes important Supreme Court rulings such as the "SEIKO EYE" case (Supreme Court ruling of September 10, 2005).
Becoming a researcher
In this way, Prof. Takabayashi spent a spectacular 17 years as a judge, but then became a researcher. I understand that you struggled for a while after receiving the invitation from Waseda University, but in April 1995, you were assigned to the Faculty of Law, Waseda University as an assistant professor.
As early as 1996, he was promoted to professor, and for three years from 1997, he conducted overseas research at George Washington University Law School in the United States.
Since then, Prof. Takabayashi has been active in both research and education at Waseda University's Faculty of Law for 28 years.
Research Activities
The content of his research is very wide-ranging, but he has developed his own research on various issues related to intellectual property law, especially patent law, based on his experience and knowledge as a judge, and has built a comprehensive system of theories that are highly persuasive both theoretically and practically.
The results of this work have been published in a huge number of publications, but they can be said to be condensed in the "Standard Patent Law" published since 2002. Since its first edition, the Standard Patent Law has been revised every three years, and in 2020, the seventh edition, the latest edition, was published (Note: The eighth edition was published in December 2023). It is literally an unwavering standard in the field of Japanese patent law, and a best-selling work that is unparalleled in the entire field of intellectual property law. In 2010, a sister book, Standard Copyright Law, was also published, which has been revised every three years, and the latest fifth edition was published in December 2022 (https://www.yuhikaku.co.jp/books/detail/9784641243613).
Incidentally, these two books are revised every three years precisely as the blurb on the book belt says "dutiful revision" (7th edition of the Standard Patent Law), but each revision was published on September 2, the anniversary of the Professor’s father's death, and December 18, the anniversary of his mother's death. This is an episode that shows Prof. Takabayashi's own obedient personality and how much he cares about his family. Prof. Takabayashi's father is Dr. Katsumi Takabayashi (1920~2000), a former judge of the Tokyo High Court and the author of "Patent Litigation" (1998) and "Patent Administrative Law" (1984).
In this way, during his 28 years at Waseda University, Prof. Takabayashi has contributed to the development of the field of intellectual property law, where there were few specialists in the past. In 2004, he founded and became the director of the Intellectual Property Law Research Institute (RCLIP) at Waseda University, where he conducted research activities that received large research grants, such as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's 21st Century COE Program, the Global COE Program, and Waseda University's Priority Area Research. Even now, RCLIP continues its very active research activities, including holding a significant number of academic events, mainly international symposia (on March 4, 2023, we just held an international symposium entitled "Trends in the European Unitary Patent System and the Unified Patent Court," inviting many prominent people from Germany and other countries).
In Japan, Waseda University is now said to be the university of intellectual property law, and it has become a major research center for intellectual property law in Japan, and Professor Takabayashi's achievement in building this university from scratch is extremely significant. This is a very fortunate and congratulatory achievement for both intellectual property law and Waseda University.
Educational activities
In terms of education, in addition to undergraduate classes and seminars, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Law School in 2004, and he focused on the importance of education for working adults from an early stage, as in 2001 launching the "Intellectual Property Disputes and Law" education program for working adults at the Graduate School of Law. In 2018, the Graduate School of Law opened a one-year "Intellectual Property Law LL.M." course, and has accepted a wide variety of students in the five years to date. The various intellectual property law education programs at our university are among the best in Japan, and they are still very popular both in Japan and abroad.
In addition, Prof. Takabayashi has nurtured an extremely large number of graduate students, and has made a great deal of achievements in the training of researchers and international students. As a matter of fact, there are already 12 of Professor Takabayashi's students who are university teachers in Japan and abroad. After 17 years as a judge, it is nothing short of astonishing that he has been able to nurture so many students in his 28 years at the university.
In addition, Professor Takabayashi is very strict in education, and many students may have an image of him as a cold-hearted and scary teacher, but on the other hand, he is also a person who is full of compassion and human love, so he has been loved by many students.
Social activities
In addition, regarding social activities, for example, he has served as a board member of the Japan Society of Industrial Property Law since 2003, and has been serving as its president since 2015. In addition, he has served as a board member of the Copyright Law Society, vice president of the Design and Law Association, and an external standing member of the Central Institute of Intellectual Property of the Japan Patent Attorneys Association.
Future Prospects
As mentioned above, Prof. Takabayashi has made a great contribution to Waseda University and the study of intellectual property law. I would like to express my sincere respect and admiration for such achievements.
The various intellectual property law education programs that Prof. Takabayashi has laid down are valuable and important to our university, and in order to continue and develop them into the future, his presence is indispensable. Although he will inevitably retire in March of this year, he will remain as an advisor to RCLIP from April, and we sincerely hope that he will continue to lead the "Waseda Intellectual Property" on which he himself has laid the foundation.