April 19th - London Marathon Update

Thank you so much to the 93 people who have helped me raise £2,405 so far ....... I need just 7 more people to sponsor me and help raise £95 more in order to hit the magical goals of 100 individual sponsors and £2,500 raised .......... just 3 days to go and so close; please help if you can!

Thanks
Steve

www.justgiving.com/SteveCrane

Apr 10th - David Cameron seeks slice of Japanese defence contracts on Tokyo trip

Prime minister accompanied by executives from six defence firms after Japan relaxes postwar procurement rules

David Cameron says he wants to take the UK's relationship with 'old friends' Japan 'even further'. Photograph: Carl Court/PA

David Cameron  flying to Tokyo with some of Britain's leading defence manufacturers as Downing Street seeks to exploit a multibillion-pound market after a liberalising of Japan's procurement rules.

The prime minister is taking executives from six defence contractors, including BAE Systems and AgustaWestland, as Britain prepares to embark on developing weapons jointly with Japan. Tokyo has agreed to name Britain as its first overseas defence trading partner after the US.

Downing Street – acutely sensitive to charges that the prime minister drums up business for defence manufacturers on his overseas tours – will hope that the focus of Tuesday's visit will be on Nissan's Yokohama headquarters, where the carmaker will announce a £127m investment in its Sunderland plant to produce its new hatchback, expected to create 225 jobs.

The prime minister also hopes to hail the role of Professor Sir John Beddington, the government's chief scientific adviser, who said the British embassy in Tokyo should remain open after the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant in March last year. Beddington, whose advice was read avidly in Japan after the disaster, will also be accompanying the prime minister.

But Cameron's talks in Tokyo with Yoshihiko Noda, his Japanese counterpart, will be dominated by expected deals on defence co-operation and Britain's role in helping Japan with its nuclear decommissioning. These could eventually dwarf the relatively modest Japanese inward investment deals, worth £200m, that will be signed on the trip.

The prime minister is taking representatives of the defence manufacturers, which also include Babcock, MBDA, Rolls Royce and Thales, because officials believe there is a major opportunity as Japan opens up its multibillion-pound defence market. Britain hopes to win a share of the market, which had been open only to Japanese and US companies since 1967.

A blanket ban came into force in 1976, although this did not apply to the US.

In December last year Japan lifted the ban – a move technically outside the terms of the postwar constitution, enacted in 1947, which banned "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential". Japan has traditionally circumvented the ban by building up its armed forces with the help of the most formidable of the allied powers in 1945, the US.

The Mainichi newspaper last week quoted defence ministry officials in Tokyo as saying that Cameron and Noda would formally agree to begin defence co-operation talks. The officials said it could take a year to decide on areas where the two countries would co-operate, but they are expected to start initially with the joint development of military equipment.

Britain says progress has already been made in highly technical preliminary negotiations. This has involved persuading the Japanese that UK defence equipment is "interoperable" and meets the security requirements of both sides.

Cameron will work hard to press British interests after Japan recently chose US-made Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets over the Eurofighter Typhoon manufactured by a consortium of European companies, including BAE Systems.

Cameron faced embarrassment in February last year over the promotion of Britain's defence industry when he took a delegation of manufacturers to the Gulf. He began the trip by hailing democracy in Cairo's Tahrir Square – before flying to Kuwait with eight defence manufacturers. The prime minister will argue that this trip is different because Japan is a democracy.

Downing Street believes in recent years Britain has overlooked its relationship with Japan, which is the world's third largest economy and whose investments in the UK come to more than £26bn, accounting for 130,000 jobs. Japan is only the 14th largest export market for UK goods, though this grew by 7% last year.

Tony Blair paid the last bilateral visit by a British prime minister to Japan in 2003. Cameron was due to visit Japan last October on his way to the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Australia. But by then he had already visited China, India and the US. The prime minister will be accompanied on his trip to Japan and south-east Asia by executives from 33 companies and four universities.

In an interview with the Japanese daily Yomiuri, the world's largest newspaper, Cameron said he hoped to revive ties with an old ally. "We do have very good relations between Britain and Japan. We're old friends, we're old allies, we're partners in many senses. But I think we can take the relationship even further."

Cameron paid tribute to the way the Japanese people had responded to the twin disasters of the tsunami and the subsequent nuclear disaster at Fukushima last year. "I greatly admire and respect the way the Japanese have overcome the enormous challenges of recovery following last year's earthquake. The UK stood by Japan in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake when we kept our embassy open in Tokyo and through the reassuring advice of our chief scientific adviser, Sir John Beddington, who will be joining me on this trip.

"Looking to the future, we want to continue to support the Japanese as they reconstruct the Tohoku region and tackle the challenges of the nuclear clean-up. British companies have significant expertise in nuclear decommissioning and clean-up, with 19 nuclear sites in the UK currently being managed through the process."

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/apr/10/david-cameron-japan-defence-contracts

Apr 4th - Landon IP Opens Tokyo Office

Landon IP Opens Tokyo Office, Continuing Mission to Bring Best of Class Intellectual Property Support Services to the World

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 2, 2012 -Landon IP, Inc. is excited to announce the formal launch of its Tokyo office effective April 2, 2012.  The office is located in Tokyo's Shinagawa ward, near the Shinagawa train station.  This new office solidifies Landon IP's commitment to the important Japanese market, where it operates as Landon IP GK.

David Hunt, Landon IP's CEO, says, "Landon IP provides customers worldwide with professional support services that help them understand, enforce, and maximize the value of their intellectual property assets."  He adds, "We have been working with Japanese law firms and companies for many years.  The opening of our Tokyo office demonstrates our strong belief in Japan as a country of innovators, exceptional companies, and highly respected intellectual property lawyers and managers."

The Tokyo office is led by Mr. Atsushi Nozaki, Senior Director of Landon IP GK.  "It is a pleasure to join the Landon IP team.  I am excited to be leading our efforts to provide exceptional service and expand our business in Japan," says Nozaki.  "Our Tokyo presence will ensure that we provide the support that customers in Japan deserve and expect." 

Mr. Nozaki was most recently the Manager of the IP Research Institute at NGB Corporation.  He is a well-known expert in all aspects of patent information, searching, and analysis.

The Tokyo office will serve customers in Japan, Korea, Australia, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Landon IP GK can be reached at:

Level 28 Shinagawa IntercityTower A 2-15-1 Konan Minato-KuTokyo 108-6028 Japan+81 (0)3 6717 4062  

Landon IP opened a London office in January 2012.  Landon IP operates in Europe as Landon IP Ltd.

About Landon IP, Inc. and Landon IP GK

Landon IP is the leading global provider of professional support services throughout the intellectual property lifecycle and has met the critical needs of the IP community since 1949.  Landon IP operates in Japan as Landon IP GK.  Landon IP's services include patent and trademark searching; non-patent literature searching; in-depth technical analysis; global information retrieval; and patent, legal, and technical translations.  The company is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, near the offices of the USPTO, with offices in Southfield, Michigan; El Dorado Hills, California; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Tokyo, Japan; and London, U.K.  More information about Landon IP can be found at www.landon-ip.com.