Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海) has agreed to set up a joint venture with Japan’s Sharp Corp, the newly acquired subsidiary of the Taiwanese firm, to manage the Japanese company’s intellectual property rights (IPR).
Hon Hai, which owns a 66 percent stake in the Japanese company, is planning a joint venture with Sharp and the new company is scheduled to be established on Oct. 3, a statement released by Sharp said yesterday.
ScienBizi Consulting Inc, a unit of Hon Hai, is to set up an IPR joint venture which will be called ScienBiziP Japan Co (SBPJ), with Sharp to hold a 51 percent stake in the new company, SBPJ a 20 percent stake and the management of ScienBizi Consulting Inc owning the remaining 29 percent.
The new company would be under the corporate umbrella of Sharp, which will take eight seats on the board of directors at SBPJ.
According to the statement, SBPJ will take responsibility for Sharp’s IPR, a move which is expected to maximize the use of the Japanese electronics maker’s intangible assets, and eventually boost the efficiency of its operations and strengthen its bottom line.
Sharp is likely to license other entities to use its IPR and rake in profit from the services. Through the new mechanism, Sharp said that it would closely guard its IPR and not allow any leaks from the company.
Hon Hai completed a deal to buy a 66 percent stake in Sharp for US$3.5 billion on Aug. 12, becoming the largest shareholder of the financially struggling Japanese firm.
Following the acquisition, Hon Hai’s Tai Cheng-wu (戴正吳) took over as president of Sharp from his predecessor, Kozo Takahashi, after the board of directors approved his appointment on Aug. 13.
Ahead of the announcement to set up SBPJ, Tai had said in a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun that Sharp should carefully manage its large IPR portfolio as the rights have been precious assets for the company.
Tai added that Sharp would not dispose of its IPR.
A month after Hon Hai acquired the majority stake in Sharp, Japanese media reported that Tai has come up with a series of measures to reform the Japanese firm’s structure, including its personnel system, and any changes in personnel would not be finalized unless the president gives his approval.
Tai said that Hon Hai has vowed to lend its full support to Sharp in product planning, development and marketing, and would do its best to help the subsidiary integrate its manufacturing resources.
According to the reports, Tai has a goal to make Sharp’s solar-energy operations profitable by the end of March 2018.
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