Honda sends European IP head on two-year posting to Tokyo

Honda has transferred its European head of IP to its Japan office for a two-year stint as part of a long-term secondment.

Christopher Morgan will take up an IP management role at the company's Tokyo office. The three-lawyer European IP team will not replace him while he is away.

In Japan, Morgan will investigate IP matters such as brand positioning, car part counterfeiting and patent prosecution for Honda's research and development department.

Morgan is credited with introducing podcasting to the UK office to link up lawyers and business managers in different offices across Europe.

"If we want to communicate with the salespeople when they're travelling abroad, we do a podcast," said Morgan.

"There's no reason why we can't start doing these things with colleagues from Japan."