Intellectual Property
Basic Policy
Kaneka Group secures intellectual property rights, such as patents for our R2B+P results, aiming to provide prompt solutions to help resolve social issues. All our researchers and engineers recognize intellectual property as one of the outputs of R2B+P activities and actively seek to acquire intellectual property rights for their achievements including know-how.
To respect the intellectual property rights of others and avoid patent disputes, we make sure to carry out patent searches, trademark searches, and design surveys at various stages in the business development process, such as theme proposals, capital investments, commercialization, specification changes, and brand naming, taking every possible precaution to ensure clearance.
Promotion System
The Intellectual Property Department, which operates directly under the President, works to secure and maintain the Kaneka Group’s intellectual property, which supports our business. At each of our regional headquarters in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, we have put a framework in place for assigning intellectual property specialists to respond directly to local issues. To mitigate intellectual property risks and prevent leaks of trade secrets at Group companies in Japan and overseas, we are also shoring up cooperation between the various Group companies and the Intellectual Property Department.
Based on our Corporate Governance Code, which we revised in 2021, we continue taking actions to improve our governance of intellectual property. The director in charge of the Intellectual Property Department receives reports and gives directions at monthly reporting meetings.
In addition, intellectual property strategy meetings are held once a year for each division. These meetings are attended by general managers of the division, the research division, and the Intellectual Property Department. We will continue to strengthen the linkage between our intellectual property strategy and the business and research strategies of each division, with the aim of contributing to business performance.
Creation of Intellectual Property
We are actively filing domestic and overseas patent applications to secure intellectual property rights with a view toward strengthening our business portfolio. In fiscal 2022, we were newly granted 305 Japanese patents and 243 overseas patents. At the same time, we actively abandoned unused patents to manage our intellectual property expenses efficiently. At the end of fiscal 2022, the number of patents held was 3,354 Japanese patents and 3,379 overseas patents, roughly level with the previous fiscal year. We will continue to work with related departments to reinforce our intellectual property portfolio.
In 2019, we established an employee invention reward system for patent applications to incentivize R2B members to apply for patents. This has led to a rise in the number of patent applications filed, helping to expand our intellectual property portfolio.
Number of Japanese Patents Held
Number of Overseas Patents Held
Resources and Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property Activities
We focus on educating our researchers and engineers about intellectual property. This ensures that they understand the importance of intellectual property as one of the outputs of our R2B+P activities, so that they will seek to acquire rights for their achievements and actively utilize them.
Employees in charge of technology and sales, including those at Group companies, undergo the training. We prepare content on a range of topics from the basics of intellectual property to applications such as discovery of inventions and preparation of statements, and even intellectual property strategies. The materials are tailored for each organizational level, from new hires and junior employees to mid-level employees and those in leader positions. For our intellectual property education, we have prepared a wide range of programs. These programs, which include e-learning, cover areas such as search training, licensing stage training, strategic initiatives such as training on theme creation and market data utilization, and training on trademark, brands, and copyrights. We also work with external experts to develop our human resources in areas such as theme creation, data utilization, and strategy planning.
Intellectual Property that Leads to Value Creation
In fiscal 2022, as we worked on applying for patents and obtaining rights, we focused on technical fields that aid our efforts to address areas such as the environment and energy crisis and the food crisis.
In response to the environment and energy crisis, Kaneka has acquired three patents in Europe for technologies related to the production of KANEKA Biodegradable Polymer Green Planet™. We also obtained rights in Japan and the United States for technology related to manufacturing methods that improve processes for treating wastewater discharged during manufacturing. In Japan and the US, we have acquired rights to manufacturing technology using waste liquid and other by-products from the palm oil production process. In terms of applications, we have obtained rights in Japan for the development of foam particles in Japan and the United States, and in Japan for a manufacturing method for laminates. In this way, we are working to reinforce the patents aspect of Green Planet™.
In the area of hetero junction back-contact type solar cells, we have acquired manufacturing technology rights in Japan and China.
We have acquired rights for technology related to tandem solar cells in Japan. The technology combines perovskite solar cells and crystalline silicon solar cells, offering the potential for even greater efficiency.
In the food crisis area, we have been working to obtain rights for seed business. We have obtained rights in the U.S. as a result of our research into the in planta particle bombardment (iPB) method, which is highly efficient and can be applied to a wide range of crop varieties. The rights relate to an iPB method for targeting immature embryos, plant transformation methods using the iPB method, and genome editing methods using the iPB method.
We have acquired rights to development related to fermented butter in Japan. We expect that this this technology can be used in developing the dairy products business in the near future.
As a contribution to the wellness crisis, we have acquired rights in Japan for molding technologies for a stent delivery catheter and a balloon with an integrated protruding member.
We have acquired rights to a new technology in Japan for the production of flow-continuous reactions of large-scale generic pharmaceutical intermediates.
Data Utilization
Data Utilization Initiatives
To boost the competitive strength of our business, we are promoting information analysis and information utilization initiatives such as IP landscape™. Following on from the deployment in fiscal 2021 of specialized personnel, in fiscal 2022, we strengthened our efforts by establishing a new group within the Intellectual Property Department that specializes in analyzing and using information. While sharing the importance and usefulness of data utilization by the Intellectual Property Department and business divisions, this group enables coordination aimed at developing strategies for a range of research and development and business issues. By understanding customer value and analyzing the competitive environment, we aim to improve our business competitiveness.
IP landscape™ is a registered trademark of Masayuki Shobayashi, patent attorney at Shobayashi International Patent & Trademark Office.
Using Patent Scores
We use a wide range of patent analysis tools to review our patent portfolio, referencing the value of our published patents. In our portfolio review, we focus on the value of each patient, conducting an inventory check of the rights we hold. In determining whether we need to maintain the rights to registered patents, we tap into the insights of the Company’s technology and business leaders, assess the cost of maintenance, and check the objective patent score.
Protecting our Technology and Brands
Information Leakage and Legal Compliance
To prevent our proprietary technology and know-how from being leaked, we provide intellectual property protection training to sales representatives. The training, which includes measures against leakage of confidential information, is provided when these staff are developing customers or providing samples. We also regularly provide training to instill respect for the rights of others and strengthen compliance with laws and regulations on copyright, covering topics such as preventing copyright infringement when creating materials.
Protecting our Brands
To support the brand development of our mainstay products, we have acquired trademarks in countries around the world to protect the brands of global products such as KANEKA Biodegradable Polymer Green Planet™ and KANEKALON™ hair accessory products. We constantly monitor trademark applications around the world, working continuously to prevent others from licensing the same or similar trademarks. If an application for a similar trademark is detected, an objection is filed with each country’s patent office, which leads to others being prevented from licensing similar trademarks.
To ensure that our trademarks are correctly used and applied in our business, we held separate trademark seminars in fiscal 2022 for sections of our organization such as business divisions that hold a large number of trademarks and the IR department.
Upgrading Our Operations through DX
We have started using AI tools in patent searches. For example, in our pre-application technology survey in fiscal 2022, about 20% of the survey was carried out using AI tools. Compared with searches done manually, this shortens the time frame for reporting back to the inventor. Information on competitors can thus be grasped quickly and fed back into R2B activities. We will continue to look at the features of various AI tools as we broaden the cases for their use.
R2B personnel typically keep up to date with the latest developments by searching for new patent applications by competitors. By using AI tools for classification work that had previously been done manually, they can now pass on precise information to researchers more rapidly. This promises to boost the efficiency of the team, while controlling the variations that can arise in human output.
Collaboration Between Organizations
Held a Joint Intellectual Property Liaison Meeting
Every year, we hold a joint intellectual property liaison meeting between personnel responsible for intellectual property in all departments. The date of the meeting, April 18, is chosen to coincide with Invention Day in Japan. At this meeting, as well as providing an update on its initiatives, the Intellectual Property Department showcases examples of outstanding work that divisions have done in their intellectual property activities. By introducing these examples to other divisions, we enable knowledge to be deployed across the organization, raising the understanding of intellectual property throughout the Company.
Cooperation with Overseas Counterparts
Personnel in charge of intellectual property belonging to headquarters in the Americas, Europe, and Asia and Japan-based members of the Intellectual Property Department regularly meet to resolve issues and share information from a global perspective.
Going forward, we will continue to further promote cooperation between international counterparts, an activities that is aimed at solving global issues.
