Pentax 2009 Annual Report Download - page 37

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 37 of the 2009 Pentax 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 94

  • 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
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94

Utilization of Third-Party Patents and Technologies
Hoya does not rely excessively on its own proprietary technologies and patents. If, after care-
ful technical search and consideration of the available technologies, the Company finds that
third parties have superior technologies, patents or other advantages, and if it decides that
using them would be most efficient in commercializing a product, Hoya takes steps to seek
licenses to use third-party patents or introduce their technologies.
Systems Supporting Intellectual Property Activities
The Hoya Group is organized according to business divisions and companies, with extensive
delegation of authority from strategic business planning to decision-making. Each division has
an intellectual property group responsible for working in conformity with the respective strate-
gies of their divisions—for instance, by filing patent applications and other rights-related man-
agement activities, taking actions in relation to patents held by others and licensing out Hoya’s
own patents. Hoya’s global headquarters are under the management of the chief intellectual
property officer and are responsible for working to improve the intellectual property functions
of the Group. This includes such matters as establishing and promoting overall intellectual
property strategy, assisting business divisions in the establishment of patent strategies, the
training and skill enhancement of employees, managing intellectual property assets, and the
development of patent management systems. In particular, matters that necessitate decision-
making for the Group—for example those requiring coordination of intellectual property issues
that run across more than one business division, or that involve bringing a case to court or
reaching an amicable settlement—are deemed to require the approval of headquarters and
are strictly managed under the direction of the CEO. Because intellectual property activities
are dispersed across all business divisions, there is a need to reduce any adverse effect from
potential difficulties in information sharing. At the same time, to improve synergies between
business divisions, the Company periodically holds joint intellectual property meetings for the
exchange and sharing of information on each division’s intellectual property activities.
GLOBAL APPLICATIONS
(BY YEAR OF APPLICATION)
n Applications filed by previous Hoya
Corporation (left)
n Pentax applications filed (left)
Global Applications (right)
04.3 05.3 06.3 08.307.3
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
0
10
30
40
20
50
(Applications) (%)
35
HOYA Annual Report 2009