Olympus 2005 Annual Report Download - page 54

Trends in Number of Patents Held by Country
(Number of patents, thousands)
01 0 2 0 3 04 05
O thers
United States
Japan
Trends in Number of Patents Held by Business
(Number of patents, thousands)
01 0 2 0 3 04 05
Medical Systems Business
Imaging Systems Business
Corporate R&D Center
Life Science Business
Industrial Systems Business
4
3
2
1
12
9
6
3
52 O LYMPUS 2 00 5
In September 2004, ITX Co rporation, previously an equity-
method affiliate, became a consolidated subsidiary to help expe-
dite business reforms and create new core businesses in the future.
ITX Corporation is currently engaged in developing new businesses
in the network, technology, and mobile sectors.
Contribution of Licensing Activities to Company
Business
> O lympus views intellectual property licensing activities primarily as
a means of differentiating its products from tho se of other compa-
nies, rather than as a means of generating licensing revenue.
W ith respect to imaging products, Olympus considers cross-
licensing to be an impo rtant tool due to the extremely rapid pace at
which technology advances in the imaging industry. Also, the
Company considers it necessary to make use of a wide range of
intellectual property assets, including those originally developed by
other manufacturers, in o rder to respond quickly to customer needs.
As fo r gastrointestinal endoscopes, our mainstay products in the
medical endo scope field, however, our strategy is to use techno lo-
gies protected by our patents to make it difficult for other manufac-
turers to enter the market, and thus maintain market share.
Contribution of Patent Portfolio to Company Business
> O lympus actively pursues a policy of converting research and
develo pment results into patented intellectual property assets. The
results of this po licy over the past five years are shown in the
graphs below, broken down by country and area of business. In the
future, the Company will be more selective in applying for do mestic
patents, and will strive to increase the number of acquired foreign
patents. O lympus has been channeling more resources into obtain-
ing patents, not o nly in the United States but also in the gro wing
market of China, where it also has manufacturing operations. At the
end of fiscal 2005, O lympus held 7 2 patents in China, up from 24
a year earlier.
The number and ratio of O lympus’ patents in each business area
at the end of fiscal 2 005 are shown in the table below. O lympus
holds patents with business potential in each o f its businesses:
imaging, medical, industrial, and life science. However, its imaging
and medical businesses, which account for 7 9% of total net sales,
are responsible for 67% of all patents held by O lympus.
Furthermore, the Corpo rate R&D Center aggressively invests in
new, future-o riented businesses, as well as in develo ping technolo-
gies that will help broaden its core technological foundatio n. As a
result, the number of patents held has increased rapidly.
N ote: The information contained in this report includes information pertaining
to O lympus’ domestic and foreign affiliates, with the exception of ITX
Corporation.
Imaging Medical Life Industrial Co rporate
Systems Systems Science Systems R&D
Business Business Business Business Center Total
Japan patents ............................................................................ 1,989 2,071 434 347 1,087 5,928
% to total (%)........................................................................... 3 4 3 5 7 6 1 8 100
U.S. patents .............................................................................. 1,312 983 174 199 794 3,462
% to total (%)........................................................................... 3 8 2 8 5 6 2 3 100
China patents ............................................................................ 42 3 9 12 6 72
% to total (%)........................................................................... 5 8 4 13 17 8 100
O ther patents............................................................................. 7 8 347 126 91 88 730
% to total (%)........................................................................... 1 1 4 8 17 12 12 100
Total......................................................................................... 3,421 3,404 743 649 1,975 10,192
% to total (%)........................................................................... 3 4 3 3 7 6 1 9 100