Konica Minolta 2011 Annual Report Download - page 21

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 21 of the 2011 Konica Minolta annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 29

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29

Management Base Top Corporate Governance CSR Initiatives Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property
At the Konica Minolta Group, we aggressively pursue patent filings and other steps to convert research and
development results into viable property rights. In this way, we maintain our competitive edge in terms of patents,
thereby enhancing corporate value.
The Konica Minolta Group possesses a host of outstanding core technologies in the materials, optical nano-
fabrication, and imaging fields honed through years of business that began with optical technologies. The further
refinement and amalgamation of these core technologies, meanwhile, is enabling the Group to create new value.
A great example of this is roll-to-roll coating-based Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) lighting. Konica Minolta
was the first in the world to successfully develop this lighting solution, which emerged by combining functional
organic material synthetic technology cultivated in photographic materials, optical design technology derived from
work in lenses, and film-making and coating technology refined in film manufacturing.
In this way, we are pushing vigorously ahead with fostering OLED lighting and other new businesses in
environment and energy, which we have positioned as a future growth field. At the same time, the Group is
concentrating intensely on building a portfolio of related patents to maintain its dominant market presence.
In existing business domains, the Konica Minolta Group has identified priority technological fields where it is eyeing
business expansion and a Genre-top presence. In those fields, we will focus closely and systematically on invention
and discovery, appropriately selecting the countries in which to file patents and executing measures for swift
conversion to patent rights.
The Group's superiority in terms of patents is enhanced not only from the acquisition of high-quality patents, but by
possessing a large portfolio of such patents. We are particularly dedicated to building up high-quality patents in
Business Technologies Business and Optics Business, our core business segments. As a result, we have steadily
increased the number of Konica Minolta Group patents since FY March 2006. As of March 31, 2011, the Group
possessed rights to 7,839 patents in Japan and 5,498 patents in the United States. Patents in core business fields
(Business Technologies and Optics) accounted for 74% of the Group's patents in Japan, and 71% of its U.S.
patents.
KONICA MINOLTA HOLDINGS, INC. 20 ANNUAL REPORT 2011