In 2022, we established the Litigation and Counsel Department, bringing together a skilled team of lawyers, patent attorneys, and legal experts. This department is dedicated to harnessing the full potential of patents and all forms of intellectual property, thereby deriving value to add to NEC’s business operations. The team is uniquely composed of professionals with diverse experiences, transcending traditional boundaries such as nationality and gender. By utilizing our collective expertise, we skillfully navigate the complex business landscape, constantly shaped by evolving environmental shifts, and the dynamic nature of laws and legal precedents.

NEC owns a diverse range of intellectual property. With patents as a key component of our intellectual assets, we are exploring innovative ways to utilize our extensive patent portfolio and going beyond conventional methods. Additionally, we are also striving to contribute to the business by employing every form of intellectual property from the perspective of using a mix-and-match of an intellectual property, ensuring a comprehensive approach. Our commitment includes utilizing a wide spectrum of intellectual assets, not just traditional rights but also broader resources such as proprietary know-how and integrating them for effective use.

NEC has announced the Mid-Term Management Plan 2025. Our goal is to fully develop these initiatives by that 2025. To achieve this goal, we have initiated foundational efforts, such as establishing an IP governance structure and organize an environment to enable effective intra-company collaboration to utilize IP to create and organize both internal and external infrastructures and platforms. And we will continue to pursue our goal on the basis of this platform we create. These steps are crucial so that NEC’s intellectual property will efficiently , and effectively contribute to our business. These initial steps lay the groundwork for contributing to a management structure which is efficient, effective, and transparent. Building on this foundation, we plan to further expand and evolve our initiatives in the future.

By utilizing our legal expertise in managing various aspects of intellectual property, including litigation, claims, filings, procedures, contracts, and negotiations, our focus is on maximizing the potential of NEC’s intellectual property to foster sustainable business growth and profitability. Our goal is to implement an IP management strategy that significantly contributes to our business operations. We will establish a system where the Intellectual Property Management Division is intimately involved throughout the entire process, from the initial stages of research to the final stage of delivering products and services to our customers so to ensure that our stakeholders’ investments in these areas lead to end business result.