CEO Insights Magazine

The uniqueness of Japan lies in its technology innovations. In a very short period of time, the country has broken various barriers and made many breakthroughs. With more niche innovations, patenting them becomes primary in order to avoid duplication and illegal usage. However, clients face various kinds of problems while submitting the application for a patent in Japan. All of them are due to the strict legal barriers that need to be followed for getting a patent approved. Here, the responsibility of a service provider is not only to just file a patent for the client, but also become an IP consultant and provide advisory in the best possible way.

Aki Ryuka, a patent attorney based out of Japan, observed the integral role of IP law firms in protecting inventor’s or creator’s interest through acknowledgement of their creations and at the same time adding value to the idea itself altogether. This led him to found Ryuka & Partners that is dedicated to augment scalability of the client’s business through a bevy of IP protection measures in order to protect their technologies while demonstrating its sensibility and flexibility to protect the interest of the society as well. Ryuka’s IP professionals come from diverse backgrounds and the experience in their respective fields enables the organization to offer consulting services for multiple fields including electronics, telecommunications, software, optics, mechanical engineering, semiconductors, electronic materials, chemicals and biochemistry. The IP law firm took a step ahead to modernise translation for patent prosecution and developed its own software Ryuka Translation assistant to facilitate the domain of patent application, portfolio management, trademark and design consulting. CEO Insights Asia engages in a conversation with Aki Ryuka, President of Ryuka & Partners to know more about his role in the organization and the leadership journey he has embarked on.

Could you briefly tell me about your professional background and experiences? And, what is the motivation that fills your daily routine?

After working for Canon for five years, I moved to a patent law firm in Tokyo in 1995. I worked there for three years and then decided to join the US firm currently known as Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman where I primarily prosecuted patent applications for Japanese clients. In 1998, I founded Ryuka & Partners that initially revolved round fields like telecommunication and image processing. Later on, we diversified into more fields and grew as a comprehensive IP protection consulting firm.

I am proud of my profession. My aim is to promote IP protection all over the world, which leads to distinguishing each company in each specialized field, thereby letting them cooperate with each other. The protection of the IP results in wild networking and the corporate data schemes. So helping the world shape its change and encouraging more original ideas into the system drives me to get on with my professional dedication.

Could you share your academic experience from Tohoku University? And what did you learn from the campus beyond academics?

At Tohoku University, I studied Bachelor of Engineering, followed by a Master of Engineering at The University of Tokyo. During the years in academics, I met innumerable people from different cultural and social backgrounds. While coming across their variegated perspectives and worldviews I learned to expand the horizons of my mind. The entire experience of exchanging ideas and trying to look at life from different angles helped me have a more profound and pragmatic understanding of the society which later became foundational to my career trajectory and the ventures I embarked on. Life in the university campus also taught me to embrace my individuality and empowered me with the ability to distinguish myself amidst the crowd.

How would you define Ryuka & Partners as an organization and its current position in the market?

We aim to be a consulting firm for not only the filing of patent applications, but also the IP protection that must stand on solid strategies. So we provide consultations about the future goals of the client organization and how we can assist them in achieving that goal. After explaining the aspects of IP protection to the client, we decide on how to pursue the IP protection schemes. We take the entire spectrum of the IP consulting into account in terms of our services. This holistic approach set us apart as an IP law firm.

As the president, what are the factors you take into account when developing effective corporate growth strategies?

We endeavour to emerge as an organization that fosters consistent growth. We want to further improve our service quality to be the best partners of our clients. And our goal is to protect our client’s interests and promote their business while providing the basis for future business situations. In doing so, we also grow resultantly. Hence, to answer your question I would like to assert that our ultimate strategy is to keep on improving the quality of our services in order to be better consultants and help the inventors realise their ideas.

I explain to my team about what is important for the society and how the entire IP protection system is structured. Although .Although it takes to time completely internalise the modus operandi, they gradually learn to align their individual aspirations with the goal of the organization. Therefore, I believe that the true leadership lies in finding ways to build a bridge between the employees’ needs and the organizational objectives and retain the consensus throughout.

What is the future destination you are heading towards for the next five years?

Currently, we are focusing on recruiting talented people. We have a good number of clients. But we do not have enough qualified people in our workforce. Due to such shortcomings, we have to ask our clients to wait for writing the applications. As time is the essence of our practice, we need to enrich our human resources to speed up our services. So that is the goal for the next five years.

Aki Ryuka, President, Ryuka & Partners

Aki Ryuka is a highly qualified Patent Attorney in Japan and a Certified IP litigator in Japan, also practicing as an Attorney at Law in California, USA. He specializes in various areas of intellectual property law, including prosecution, licensing, litigation, opinions, and customs surveillance, with a focus on Japanese Patent, Design, and Trademark law. With a background in engineering and extensive experience in the field, Aki Ryuka is known for his expertise in electronics, semiconductors, software, data communication, and radio communication. He holds a Master of Engineering from The University of Tokyo and a Bachelor of Engineering from Tohoku University.