Pentax 2011 Annual Report Download - page 55

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Prevention of Imitation and Infringement
Hoya maintains a constant watch on the market to ensure that its development technologies are
not imitated by third parties. When its technologies are imitated, the Company issues warnings
and, where necessary, takes appropriate steps such as filing for injunction.
Utilization of Third-Party Patents and Technologies
Hoya does not rely excessively on its own proprietary technologies and patents. If, after careful
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. As just described, respect for the
intellectual property rights of the Company and of others is a basic stance of the Hoya Group.
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 strategies of
their divisions—for instance, by filing patent applications and other rights formulation, activities,
taking actions in relation to patents held by others and licensing out Hoya’s own patents. The
Corporate Intellectual Property Division is 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 global headquarters and are strictly managed under the direction of the Corporate Intellectual
Property Division. 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 the intellectual property activities of
business divisions, the Company periodically holds joint intellectual property meetings for the
exchange and sharing of information on each division’s intellectual property activities.