JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Miki Goto, Ryo Murakami and Akihito Ishii, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune
7.4 Attorneys’ Fees It is generally considered that compensation for reasonable attorney fees can be included in the damages claim based on tort. In practice, the amount of such attorneys’ fees granted by the courts are usually around 10% of the proved amount of damages, as described in 7.2 Meas- ures of Damages , incurred by the owner. 7.5 Costs The court may award successful litigants the court costs (eg, stamp fees for filing a complaint and witness fees) it incurred in whole or in part, at its discretion. The awarded party may recoup this by initiating a separate proceeding to calcu - late the amounts thereof. A trade secret case is generally decided in the district court for the first instance. A district court decision can be appealed to a high court that has jurisdiction over the place where the district court sits. The high court decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court as of right if there is a fundamental defect in the decision or in the procedure. The party may also file a petition for the acceptance of the appeal by the Supreme Court if the high court decision conflicts with a preceding Supreme Court decision (or with another high court decision in the absence of such Supreme Court decision), or if there is an 8. Appeal 8.1 Appellate Procedure
and the quality of the products or services irrelevant to the misappropriated trade secrets; and (b) the owner can also seek damages equal to the amount of reasonable royalties for the use of the relevant trade secrets. In addition, if the owner has proved that it suf - fered certain loss or damage, but it is extremely difficult to prove the amount, the court may determine the reasonable amount of damages. There is no award of punitive damages in Japan. 7.3 Permanent Injunction Article 3.1 of the UCPA provides that the owner of a trade secret may obtain a permanent injunc - tion against a party if its business interest has been, or is threatened to be, infringed by the misappropriation of its trade secret by such party. Unlike damage claims, the intent or negli - gence of the infringing party is not required. Such injunction may order the infringing party to cease infringing acts, and/or to refrain from engaging in infringing acts in the future. The injunction order may have a defined effective term, and in such case, the duration of the injunction shall be lim - ited to such term. In addition, if the misappropriation constitutes a breach of contract, the owner of the trade secret may seek permanent injunction on this basis as well. Specifically, if an owner of a trade secret proves that the misappropriating party owes a contractual duty of confidentiality with regard to the trade secret and has breached such duty, the owner may obtain a permanent injunction ordering compliance with the duty based on the Civil Code.
important legal issue in the case. 8.2 Factual or Legal Review
When the high court reviews the case at the sec - ond instance, it reviews both the finding of facts and the application of law. Parties are allowed to provide additional evidence and arguments, although this may be dismissed by the court if
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