Yoshitaka Sonoda is the founder and managing partner of Sonoda & Kobayashi IP Law. He has acquired extensive knowledge and experience in various aspects of intellectual property law in his more than 30 years in the industry. This includes 10 years served as a director in a major Japanese IP firm, and over 20 as a managing director at Sonoda & Kobayashi since its founding in 1998. As the primary patent litigator, Dr. Sonoda handles appeals, invalidations and infringement proceedings before Japanese courts for private companies and public organizations from around the world. Next to his native Japanese, he is fluent in English and French. He uses these skills during the seminars he regularly gives at IP organisations and associations.