Suguru Taguchi is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2009-10. He joined the Japan Patent Office (JPO) in 1996 and has worked as a patent examiner, handling patent applications mainly in the field of logistics. In 2001, he was in charge of international affairs, especially with respect to the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement. In 2007, he was also in charge of policy planning and law amendment with respect to patent attorneys. He graduated from the University of Tokyo with a BS in Mechanical Engineering.