PROFESSIONAL LUNCHEON

Apple-Samsung Patent War and Impact on Japans Industries

where: at the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCCJ), Tokyo 

when: 12:00-13:30 Tuesday, October 2, 2012 

          (members and their registered guests only, 

          you must register in advance to attend and must follow the rules of the FCCJ) 

details: announcement on the FCCJ website and registration for members 

Outline: In a global war to dominate the smartphone market, Samsung and Apple have been at each other's throats, playing out the war in courts around the world and accusing each other of patent violations. A California court recently ruled in favour of Apple and ordered Samsung to pay $1 billion, a figure that could rise dramatically when the case is played out. Samsung has won minor battles in the U.K., Japan and Australia, but with new mobile phone models and tablets being introduced by both firms, the war is only going to get bigger and bloodier. In Japan local manufacturers are being marginalized and even fighting for survival.  

Japan-based expert Gerhard Fasol will return to the FCCJ (for a report of Fasol's talk with Softbank Mobile CTO Tetsuzo Matsumoto at the first iPhone landing in Japan click here) to shed light on the Apple-Samsung dispute and how it impacts the Japan market, Japan operators and Japan manufacturers.

Gerhard Fasol runs Japan's Eurotechnology K.K. consultancy (www.eurotechnology.com),  has advised the president of Germany, JETRO and number of Japanese companies involved in high-tech industries and has authored Japanese patent applications. Fasol, who has written a number of books, graduated with a PhD in Physics from Cambridge University and was a tenured professor at Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory, a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Solid States Sciences in Germany, a manager of one of Hitachi's R&D labs and was Director of Studies at Trinity College, Cambridge.