Tokyo Electron

Annual Report 2012

Page18ContentsHighlights

Top Message

Segment Information

FeatureCorporate GovernanceCorporate Citizenship

R&D/Intellectual Propertyn Research and Development

Research and Development/Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property
Policy for Intellectual Property Activities

Status of Intellectual Property Rights

Tokyo Electron basic policy for intellectual property (IP) activities is that our IP activities should contribute to increase corporate revenues through supporting our business activities. It’s
also essential that our IP strategy is integrated with our technological and product strategies. Our IP strategy prioritizesdifferentiation of our products and bolstering our competitive
advantages with our IP rights, over earning income fromlicensing to other companies.
Technologies are continuing to advance in complexity in ourbusiness fields and the risk to become involved in IP disputes inthe development of new products increases significantly unless
we fully respect the IP rights of other companies. To minimize
the risks of disputes, Tokyo Electron monitors others’ IP andtakes appropriate approaches including obtaining licenses fromothers if necessary.

Tokyo Electron vigorously builds an IP portfolio that encompasses our technology in each business field. We obtain IP rights
not only for core technologies but also for technologies associated with and around our core technologies.
We always optimize the numbers of our patent applications
and patents in each country, reflecting market and competitor
trends in each of our business fields. The graph in this section
shows the numbers of patent applications and patents of Tokyo
Electron in each country. In recent years, we have filed about
70%*1 of our applications globally, reflecting the importance ofoverseas markets for our business. In particular, we have been
increasing the numbers of patent applications and patents inSouth Korea and China. These numbers are based on our patent
strategies reflecting the recent growing importance of the South
Korean and Chinese markets for our business, as well as the riseof semiconductor and FPD production equipment manufacturers in South Korea.

Operation of Intellectual Property Activities
Tokyo Electron continues aggressive R&D activities to satisfy therequests of our customers. In order to maintain competitivenessfrom the achievements of our R&D activities, it is necessary that
we protect such achievements through steadily obtaining IPrights. To facilitate obtaining IP rights, we cooperate closely
among our R&D operations and we have local IP departments in
our major plants. We also assign IP engineers/staff locally inseveral countries outside of Japan in response to an increase of
our R&D activities globally. We also revised our internal regulations regarding IP management last fiscal year to deal with frequent interaction and joint R&D activities between engineers in
different countries.
For effective IP activities, it is necessary to respond flexibly todramatically changing markets and various technological trends.
To exchange information about the market and technologicaltrends frequently, IP engineers in charge of surveys and externalaffairs related to IP are assigned our corporate headquarters,
which has sales and marketing divisions. In addition, IP engineers in the plants and headquarters, a manager of sales ormarketing division, and a manager of R&D division have meetings periodically so that our IP activities are conducted to include
market and technological trends.

*1 This figure is the percentage of patents filed overseas out of all our patents filed with
the Japan Patent Office. The average among Japanese companies is about 25%.

Number of Tokyo Electron Patent Applications(Fiscal year)
1,000
800
60040020000809
JapanU.S.

1011Europe

South Korea

12Taiwan

China

Number of Patents Held by Tokyo Electron(As of March 31)
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,0001,00000809
JapanU.S.

1011Europe

South Korea

12Taiwan

China

Financial Sectionn Intellectual Property

Corporate Data