The Japanese government is about to introduce criminal provisions for patent applicants who store information inappropriately in the patent non-disclosure system under the economic security bill, according to multiple government sources, according to the mainichi Shimbun.
The purpose is to prevent the leak of sensitive information and implement a high-functioning system. The government is about to adopt penalties for researchers who take part in joint public-private technology development and violate confidentiality requirements.
Japan is lags behind in the field of patent non-disclosure, which has been adopted in many advanced countries. The bill that is going to be submitted to the Diet, the Patent Agency and the prime minister will evaluate the discovery and apply it to the discovery, and if it contains sensitive information that poses security risks, the discovery will be designated as subject to protection. The applicant will have to meet appropriate information storage criteria and be banned from applying for patents for it overseas.
The bill is about to include a mechanism by which confidentiality requirements on cutting-edge research and development are imposed, which will be funded by the government. The penalties for private sector researchers will be decided using the National Public Service Act as a reference. Penalties will be deliberated for cases in which key infrastructure operators such as energy, information and communications are implementing facilities that are believed to be problematic security-wise, but are not heeding orders from the government to make changes to their plans.
An expert government panel on Jan. 19 drew up a recommendation about the patent non-disclosure system and other aspects of the bill, saying there should be penalties for violations, and the same level of legal obligation to keep secrets as public servants should be required of private researchers. The prime minister's office said that the recommendations will be taken into account, but the government has so far been cautious about setting penalties out of a concern for excessive regulations on the private sector. We will refer to cases in other democracies. The bill is at the heart of the economic security policy of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, which he places an emphasis on, and it has four pillars: supply network, key infrastructure, technology base, public-private technology cooperation, and patent non-disclosure. It will be submitted to the Diet as early as February.