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Interview
Employee Discussion: The Appeal of the NEC Intellectual Property Internship Program
At NEC, we regularly offer internships and actively encourage student participation as part of our efforts to help students gain a better understanding of careers in intellectual property, a field where the nature of the work can often be difficult to grasp from the outside.
The internship program is divided into two tracks: one is primarily for students from science and engineering backgrounds and offers hands-on experience in patent application and rights acquisition, while the other is designed for students from the humanities or interdisciplinary programs and focuses on intellectual property legal affairs and licensing. We spoke in detail with two internship coordinators and two young employees who joined NEC after participating in the internship to learn how the programs are structured and how they can benefit students in their studies and job searches.
Gaining hands-on experience in specialized work through case study simulations
What kind of content is included in the NEC Intellectual Property Internship?
Nakano: In the internship focusing on patent applications and rights acquisition, which I oversee, students gain experience across the entire process, from identifying the strengths of an invention and articulating them in a patent application to responding to patent office examination results and refining the application to secure rights. To help make the work as clear and accessible as possible, we use case studies based on actual NEC solutions as our examples.
Since most of the participants come from science backgrounds, they are usually familiar with technology but have little to no exposure to the legal concepts involved. That’s why, on the first day, we start with a lecture covering the fundamentals of intellectual property and basic legal principles. This ensures that the program remains approachable even for those with little legal background.
Typically, the internship runs for five days during the summer, but we’ve also offered shorter, condensed programs in the winter on two occasions, combining key elements from both tracks into a more intensive format.
Shintaro Nakano
Professional
Intellectual Property Portfolio Creation Department
Shintaro Nakano joined NEC in April 2008 after majoring in information engineering. Since joining the company, he has been involved in patent application work, rights acquisition, and patent portfolio development in the telecommunications field. In 2010, he was seconded to NEC Patent Service, Ltd ., an NEC Group company, where he continued to do similar work. He then returned to NEC in April 2012 and has been in his current role since 2021. He has consistently focused on intellectual property strategy planning and patent application work in the field of telecommunications throughout his career.
Yoshii: I participated in the summer program during my first year of my master’s program. I found it very valuable that the schedule included time for individual work. It made the experience feel like a simulation of what actual work would be like after joining the company. Unlike internships that consist exclusively of lectures and group work, this program offered a unique opportunity to engage with a real work environment.
Nakano: That’s right. We intentionally designed the program so that participants can work on their tasks individually, then discuss their ideas in groups, followed by feedback from mentors. This cycle is intended to help everyone continuously refine their own ideas.
Omae: The internship in intellectual property legal affairs and licensing work, which I oversee, mainly attracts students from law faculties and other humanities-related programs. That being said, anyone with an interest in intellectual property is welcome. We’ve prepared a program that uses concrete, simulated case studies to give participants firsthand experience of the actual work involved. Questions such as "How is this department different from a general legal department?" or "How is it related to patent application and rights acquisition work?" are sure to be answered through this internship experience.
Tomoka Yoshii
Intellectual Property Portfolio Creation Department
Tomoka Yoshii majored in chemistry during her student years. She wanted a career that would allow her not only to delve deeply into a single research topic but also to maintain a broad perspective and keep up with the latest technological trends. This led to her interest in intellectual property and participating in NEC’s internship during the summer of her first year in her master’s program. Since joining NEC in April 2023, she has worked on rights acquisition and portfolio development. She finds the dynamic nature of her work especially rewarding, as her efforts can influence the future direction of NEC’s business.
Uehara: I participated in the internship during the summer of my third year as an undergraduate. The program included practical exercises on resolving inter-company IP disputes, negotiating with other parties during the transfer of intellectual property, reviewing actual IP-related contracts, and attending lectures on litigation. Although I majored in law at university, I found it incredibly valuable to gain hands-on experience in corporate IP legal affairs and licensing work—things I couldn’t really see through my classes or seminars.
Omae: As Uehara-san mentioned, this area is often not covered in university classes. Licensing work also includes aggressive aspects, such as generating revenue from intellectual property, and, because the specifics vary greatly from company to company, this topic is rarely covered in university lectures.
Chieko Omae
Professional
Licensing Department
Chieko Omae joined NEC in April 2008. She began her career overseeing contracts in the Intellectual Property Management Division. Following the integration of the licensing and contracts teams, she has gained experience in licensing and other external negotiation activities. After taking three maternity leaves, she is currently working as a professional handling IP licensing operations related to IT services, as well as managing contracts for joint patent applications.
Uehara: Yes, at my university, the curriculum mainly focused on reviewing court cases. In fact, before my internship, I had thought that corporate intellectual property work was primarily about “defense”—focused on protecting intellectual property. However, after my internship, my impression of the field completely changed. I realized that the job involves a strong “offensive” aspect—taking strategic actions to enhance the value of the company’s intellectual property and generate revenue from it.
Omae: I think it is quite rare for companies to offer internships specifically within their licensing departments. I hope that this internship provides students with an opportunity to gain a sense—even if just a small taste—of the specific work involved in corporate intellectual property legal affairs and licensing work, and ultimately what it is that makes this field interesting and appealing.
Shigetake Uehara
Licensing Department
Shigetake Uehara studied law at university and became interested in intellectual property, which holds value despite being intangible. He participated in NEC’s internship program In the summer of his third year of university. He subsequently joined NEC in April 2024. As NEC possesses a wide range of advanced technologies, he finds it both engaging and rewarding to be involved in diverse range of intellectual property (primarily working with patents, but also being involved with copyrights and proprietary know-how) and approaches his daily work with dedication. Since joining the company, he has been engaged in intellectual property contract work related to business development and participation in standardization organizations. Starting in fiscal year 2025, he will also serve as a mentor for the internship program.
Assessing fit beyond surface-level information
Why did you both decide to participate in the internship?
Uehara: I wanted to get a direct sense of the company culture and the actual work involved to find out how well it matched my own personality. After I started my job search, I gathered information through company information sessions and websites and used frameworks to perform some self-analysis but I came to realize that these methods alone were not enough to gauge whether or not the companies would be a good fit for me.
Yoshii: I agree. I also felt that, to choose the right workplace for my future, it was essential not only to rely on surface-level information, but also to hear firsthand from current employees and to discover things and notice changes in myself through real work experience. The unexpected joys and the sense of whether you could live the kind of life you desire are things you can only understand through actual experience. That’s why I also participated in internship programs at the Japan Patent Office and a patent law firm during my third year of undergraduate studies.
What made you decide to participate in the NEC internship?
Yoshii: I originally had an interest in working with intellectual property, so I participated in internships at the Japan Patent Office and a patent law firm. But I also wanted to experience what intellectual property work was like within a company, which is why I decided to apply to this internship. My interest in intellectual property started when I was conducting in-depth research on a particular topic at university and wanted to try a job that could allow me to maintain a broad perspective and observe the latest technological trends. I was also drawn by the idea of becoming a highly skilled specialist with expertise in both technical and legal fields. Additionally, I felt that, from a corporate standpoint, it would feel great to be able to support the introduction of the latest technologies into society.
Uehara: While I was in university, I belonged to a seminar that worked on intellectual property law research, so I specifically looked for internships related to intellectual property law. I chose NEC because I thought that a company developing businesses handling many intangible assets—such as software—would provide me with a wide variety of interesting experiences. In fact, since joining NEC, I have had opportunities to work on projects that involve developing strategies for various types of projects that involve intellectual property, not only patents but also copyrights and know-how—the latter of which has been receiving an increasing amount of attention in recent years. I would say that my impression of the company was correct.
A program based on actual work that you can’t learn at university
What did you think of the actual internship experience?
Yoshii: I worked on two tasks, patent application preparation and rights acquisition, but what left the biggest impression on me was the hands-on practice in rights acquisition. I came to realize that the choice of wording can greatly affect the quality of the resulting patent. As a student, I was only familiar with the perspective of a researcher, so there was a time when I thought that the most important factor in patenting an invention was the quality of the invention itself. However, through the internship, I came to understand that the quality of the wording chosen by the intellectual property department is just as important as the quality of the invention. In one instance that stands out, there was an exercise where all the students were asked to come up with phrasing to obtain a high-quality patent for the same invention, and I was surprised that each person chose completely different language. This experience made me appreciate the importance of how the IP department selects words, how they interpret inventions, and the need for an ability and a sense for words. My internship experience also changed my perspective on patent documents. The internship was my first time I had the opportunity to read patents up close, and I honestly found the unique patent expressions somewhat difficult to wrap my head around when compared to the academic papers or stories I had read previously. But I came to realize that each phrase and word choice had its own meaning, and it all started to feel very logical and well thought-out.
Nakano: Patent documents are certainly something that many people find bewildering at first. But since they are an essential part of intellectual property work, I think it’s a good idea to learn how to read them and then decide whether this field is the right fit for you.
Uehara: For me, learning the importance of situation analysis during the simulated inter-company negotiations was a particularly significant experience. The exercises included cases where the parties’ interests did not align. At first glance, it seemed like there was no possible common ground, but the key to resolution was to thoroughly analyze and organize the circumstances of both companies from multiple perspectives. We had to search for points of compromise, not only taking legal matters into account but also considering business factors. It was a perspective I didn’t have prior to the start of the internship, and it became a valuable lesson.
To be honest, there were times when I found the program quite challenging. But it was through those experiences that I came to appreciate the depth of intellectual property legal affairs and licensing tasks. I also appreciated that, although it was a student program, the content was not ambiguous and covered specialized and practical topics.
Omae: I agree. We are very mindful of the degree of difficulty. If it’s too easy, it becomes boring. But on the other hand, if it’s too difficult, people will struggle to keep up. We also gather opinions from younger employees to provide a program that is appropriately challenging and rewarding. So, Uehara-san, if you found it a bit tough but still enjoyed it, then I’d say we landed on the exact difficulty we were aiming for (laughs).
An open environment where you can work with peace of mind
What is the atmosphere like at NEC?
Uehara: At the time, because it was during the COVID-19 pandemic, the internship was held online, and I couldn’t experience the on-site atmosphere directly. However, I did get the sense that employees felt free to make use of the options to work from home, employ full-flex work schedules, wear casual clothing, and sit where they chose. They seemed to have a positive mindset towards work. Perhaps because of this open atmosphere, I also felt that communication among employees was smooth and open. Even in interactions with us students, there wasn’t a strict hierarchical feeling, and many employees treated us as equals—as adults in our own right.
Yoshii: I agree and felt the same way. What left a particularly strong impression on me was the way the mentors communicated. They always responded to any opinion from students with a positive attitude of “That’s a good viewpoint, too,” never once used dismissive or negative language, and their “Yes, and...” approach—first fully accepting our input, then building on it by offering additional advice—showed me that there is a culture of respecting individual ideas.
Uehara: It was the attraction I felt toward this kind of free and open environment and toward seeing all the employees involved in the internship working with unwavering, advanced expertise that led me to join NEC.
Yoshii: For me as well, realizing that NEC was a workplace where I could feel at ease was one of the key reasons I decided to join. I also came to realize that this job allows you to work closely with inventors and aim to obtain rights that reflect their intentions. I could also see how working in an in-house intellectual property position could influence the management of the company’s IP portfolio and even influence business direction. Those factors were really what helped me decide that I wanted a job at a corporation working with intellectual property assets in-house. Previously, I had a somewhat clerical image of corporate IP work, thinking of it as intermediary work between inventors and the patent office. But my experience during the internship overturned that image in a major way.
Current improvements to and expansion of the internship program
Is there something you would like to say to students considering participation in the internship?
Omae: I would be delighted if participating in the internship serves as an opportunity for you to feel, even just a little, that “intellectual property work is interesting” or “NEC seems like a great company.” We update the program little by little every year, based on feedback from the participating students, so I think there is a lot for you to look forward to.
Nakano: I agree. In fact, the number of students who join NEC after participating in the internship has been increasing, so we are currently expanding the number of spots available. We are also updating the program to include elements of upstream processes, such as portfolio development, so I hope students will consider taking part.
Yoshii: I think internships are a great opportunity to define or reexamine what you value and how you want to live your life. I was able to choose a workplace that I am truly satisfied with. If you are even a little interested, I encourage you to take part with the mindset “seeing is believing.”
Uehara: I agree. I hope you’ll come and experience for yourself the appeal of intellectual property work. Starting this year, I will be serving as a mentor for the internship program in intellectual property legal and licensing. Since I’m close in age and experience to university students, I’d like to use that to my advantage and be able to support you not only in the internship but also with any questions you might have about the job search in general. I hope you’ll consider taking part!
