NEC Corp, which has more patents than any other Japanese company, set up a special office to market its inventions of electronics products and processes, targeting a fivefold increase in sales of intellectual property.
NEC, Japan's biggest PC maker, targets annual revenue of Japanese yen 50 billion (US$375 million) from the new business in three years, up from Japanese yen 10 billion, said company spokesman Sage Sakai. He said the office would have about 75 staff. Many Japanese companies have lagged overseas rivals in recouping funding on research while their reluctance to sell intellectual property rights has led to infringements resulting in costly lawsuits.
"This is a right move for Japanese companies which haven't utilized patent rights efficiently and more companies will follow suit," said Michitaka Kato, who oversees Japanese yen 20 billion in assets at Japan Investment Trust Management Co, including NEC shares.
"Raising funds by selling unused patent rights will encourage workers in companies' research and development divisions."
International Business Machines Corp, the largest patent holder, earned US$1.54 billion from selling patents and royalty assets last year. Only about one-third of the approximately one million patents in Japan, the world's No.2 patent holder after the US, have been used for commercial purposes, reports have said.
Pioneer Corp, one of the few Japanese companies to capitalize on its know-how, has bolstered flagging earnings by licensing its optical disk technology to DVD player manufacturers, company spokeswoman Kayoko Tanaka said.
The Tokyo-based company set up a unit in the US in 1989 to market its research and patent revenue generated four-fifths of operating profit in the nine months ended December, she said.
Operating profit from patents at the maker of DVD players and plasma displays was Japanese yen 13.6 billion in the period, out of a total Japanese yen 17.1 billion, down 21 percent.
NEC's move comes as the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is looking for ways to protect Japanese companies' investment in intellectual property and allow companies to boost returns. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is considering allowing companies to securitize patent rights for sale to investors, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said Saturday.
More than half of the Japanese companies doing business in China have had their products illegally copied by local rivals, METI said in a report Friday.
Making patents more available via licensing will increase cooperation between rival companies, reducing the need for costly lawsuits to pursue patent claims.
NEC in September filed a lawsuit in the US accusing Motorola Inc, the No. 1 pager maker, of infringing its patents relating to pager products.
In January, NEC settled a patent dispute with InterDigital Communications Corp for US$53 million and entered a licensing agreement, the US company said.
NEC, which has 68,509 patents in Japan, will sell patents or grant licenses to fledging companies in Asia to manufacture mobile phones and telecommunications equipment, spokesman Sakai said, confirming a Nihon Keizai report.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary