NORIO TAKAHASHI Vice President, Domestic Division Patent Attorney Mechanical Engineering B.S., School of Mechanical Engineering, Fukui University

30 years' experience at the JPO, 1966 - 1996
·Examiner and Appeal Examiner, 1966 - 1988
·Member of the Examination Standards Section which is responsible for establishing examination standards for inventions and utility models, 1979 - 1981
·Managing Examiner, Industrial Machinery Division, 1987 - 1989
·Examiner-in-Chief, 1989 - 1991
·Training Instructor, 1989 - 1991
·Trial Examiner-in-Chief, Packaging Machinery and Checking Devices Division, 1992 - 1994
·Director of the 32nd Board of Appeal (Physics), 1994 - 1996

Mr. Takahashi has extensive experience in preparing opinions, trials for invalidation, oppositions, suits against trial decisions, and assisting in infringement litigation. He specializes in fibers, polymer processing, automatic control systems, vending machines, transportation systems, optics, and electromagnetic measurement. He was an examiner of the Patent Attorney Examinations in 1991 and 1993, and lectured at Kanagawa University from 1992 to 1999. He regularly presents lectures on patent issues in Japan.