Our Attorneys
Managing Partner
Kenta Tohara
Mr. Tohara, one of the two founders of our firm has worked for 7 years as an engineer specializing in automotive power trains and for 5 year as a patent engineer and in-house patent attorney in the automotive industry where he gained considerable familiarity with automotive technology. He is a member of the Japan Patent Attorneys Association (JPAA), where he was the vice chairman of the In-house Patent Attorney Committee for the 2015 fiscal year.
Mr. Tohara has a degree in mechanical engineering from Kobe University and a Master of Business Administration from Nagoya University of Commerce and Business.
Partner
Shoichi Hirose
Mr. Hirose, a cofounder of our firm, is the founder and president of S. Hirose and Associates in Tokyo, Japan. He has over 40 years of experience in prosecuting patent and trademark application both in Japan and overseas. His specialities include iron and steel manufacturring, wire manufacturring, and battery manufacturing. Mr. Hirose is also an accomplished English translator of Japanese patent documents. Mr. Hirose holds a degree in metallurgy from Nagoya University and is a long-time member of the International intellectual property Law Association.
Seiji Kunoh
Mr. Kunoh has been prosecuting patent applications in Japan since 2000 and has been a registered Japanese patent attorney since 2007. His main fields of experience include telecommunications, control engineering, mechanical engineering (particularly automotive engineering), car navigation, voice processing, information technology, and business methods.
Mr. Kunoh has a degree in electronics and information engineering from Nagoya Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration from Nagoya University of Commerce and Business. He is also a licensed telecommunications engineer. He is a member of the Intellectual Property Management Consulting Committee of the Japan Patent Attorneys Association.