[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a meeting of the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters at the Prime Minister’s Office.

During the meeting, members of the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters exchanged views towards approving the Intellectual Property Promotion Plan 2015.

In his opening address, the Prime Minister said,

“Competition in relation to intellectual property is increasing in intensity throughout the world, in developed countries and emerging economies alike. In order to improve Japan’s international competitiveness and strengthen its growth, we need to reconstruct our intellectual property strategy.

In particular, it is important to link Japan’s advanced technology and rich cultural content to the creation and expansion of new businesses. To that end, I would like you to focus on strengthening the intellectual property strategy of regional SMEs, promoting collaboration between industries and between industry and academia in the regions, activating the intellectual property dispute resolution system, and achieving international development that integrates content and the peripheral industries.

To realize the implementation of these measures, I would like to utilize the collective wisdom of all the expert members of this Headquarters in order to compile the Intellectual Property Promotion Plan 2015 this summer, and request your accelerated consideration.”