Toru Matsuoka graduated from the University of Tokyo and joined the Japan Paten Office (JPO) in 2003. From 2003 to 2018, he had taken a series of posts, including the Patent Examiner in the field of Polymer chemistry, Electrochemistry, Biotechnology, Deputy Director of Intellectual Property Policy Office (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), and Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs Office (Patent Act etc.), Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo (Department of Computational Biology and Material Sciences). From April, 2018 until now, he has been the Deputy Director of Examination Standards Office and has been taking care of patent examination guidelines and related matters in the JPO.