Hiroto Imai

Hiroto Imai is a bengoshi (Japanese qualified lawyer) and a benrishi (Japanese qualified patent attorney) in Hogan Lovells' Tokyo office. Since 1997, Hiroto has handled various patent and other intellectual property disputes/matters, including patent litigations in a variety of industry sectors, invalidation trials, face-to-face negotiations, settlements, brand protections, licensing, and IP aspects of corporate and commercial transactions. Whilst his primary focus is on IP practice, Hiroto also has extensive experience in handling corporate and commercial disputes/matters in a wide variety of areas.

Hiroto studied science at Waseda University (B.Eng. 1991) and at the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University (1991-1992). He studied law at the Legal Training and Research Institute, the Supreme Court of Japan and at the University of Pennsylvania, (LL.M. 2002). Prior to joining Hogan Lovells, he worked at the Tokyo and London offices of a Magic Circle firm in the IP and Corporate practice groups, as well as at leading Japanese law firms.

In Japan, few attorneys have scientific or engineering backgrounds; however, Hiroto actively uses the strength and knowledge of his own scientific background in handling patent disputes/matters, etc., in various technical fields, whether they are contentious or not.