Practice Areas

Intellectual Property, Competition and Antitrust, International Trade, Commercial Litigation, Dispute Resolution

　

Introduction and Practice Profile

Kazunori Yamagami is a distinguished practitioner whose career spans more than half a century. Since his admission to the Bar in 1968, he has built an exceptional reputation in the fields of intellectual property, antitrust, licensing, international commercial transactions, litigation and dispute resolution, and cross-border disputes. His name has long been associated with the development of sophisticated legal practice especially in intellectual property law areas in Japan.

Mr. Yamagami graduated from Osaka University, Faculty of Engineering, before going on to earn a degree in law from Chuo University. After beginning practice in Osaka, he studied in the United States as a Fulbright scholar and completed an LL.M. program at the University of Wisconsin Law School. He subsequently worked at Graham & James in Los Angeles before establishing the Yamagami Law Office in 1973. In 2003, that firm merged with Yodoyabashi Godo to form what is now Yodoyabashi & Yamagami LPC, to which he continues to contribute his extensive experience, judgment and international perspective.

Throughout his career, Mr. Yamagami has played a leading role not only in legal practice but also in the broader development of intellectual property law and dispute resolution. He has served as Chair of the Intellectual Property Committee of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, a temporary member of the Intellectual Property Policy Committee of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, an arbitrator and mediator of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), President of the Licensing Executives Society Japan, and a director of the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association. He also served as a Special Professor at Kyoto University Law School, teaching intellectual property law.

Mr. Yamagami is widely respected as an author, editor and lecturer on intellectual property, unfair competition, patent licensing and international intellectual property disputes. His publications include major works on international intellectual property dispute resolution, unfair competition law and intellectual property licensing, and his long-standing professional contributions continue to shape legal practice and scholarship alike. Combining technical training, international experience and profound legal insight, he offers clients strategic, precise and highly dependable counsel on complex and sensitive matters.

Education

• The University of Wisconsin Law School (L.L.M., Fulbright Scholar, 1972)
• Chuo University (J.D., 1965)
• Osaka University (B.E., 1962)

Professional Admissions

• Japan (1968)

Languages

• Japanese
• English

Professional and Academic Associations

• Osaka Bar Association (1968-)
• Special Professor, the Kyoto University Law School (2004-2007)
• Trustee, the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (2000-)
• President, the Licensing Executive Society of Japan (1998-2000)
• Arbitrator and Mediator, the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration Center, Geneva (1994-)
• On full-time secondment to Graham & James LLP (1972-1973)