Intellectual Property Strategy to Support Fujitsu's Purpose

Intellectual Property Management and Corporate Value

Intellectual property management contributes to value creation by developing and utilizing our intellectual property portfolio, encompassing not only acquiring the rights of the Group's intellectual capital but also risk management to reduce the occurrence of risks that lead to damage to corporate and social value, including respecting the rights held by both the Group and other companies, as well as measures to protect against the infringement of these rights.

We are promoting rights acquisition for technology developed by the Fujitsu Group and design rights and brands generated when integrating the technology into society. Through appropriate management, we are expanding opportunities for license fees and differentiating ourselves from technology and services offered by others, which leads to maintaining and strengthening the competitive advantage of the Group’s technology and services.

We are also supporting the search for growth opportunities by widely surveying, analyzing, and disseminating global technology trends, such as the status of patent applications in domains that hold strategic importance for the Fujitsu Group. Furthermore, we are actively participating in the open source software (OSS) community, which is essential for our digital services, and are contributing to the formulation of an ecosystem for value creation and generation of an environment that encourages innovation through the development of rules for utilizing intellectual property.

Reducing the risk of damage to value is an important initiative for protecting intellectual property rights. Infringement by other parties of the rights held by the Fujitsu Group not only obstructs the implementation of business strategies but may also have a negative impact on the competitive environment and trust in Fujitsu's brands by customers. Accordingly, we are constantly monitoring whether our rights have been infringed upon. If a possible infringement is discovered, we implement countermeasures in a swift and appropriate manner.

Additionally, Our Code of Conduct that constitutes the Fujitsu Way, as well as Our Purpose and Our Values, specify that we protect and respect intellectual property. Therefore, we respect the intellectual property of other parties in the same way we acquire rights for our own intellectual property. To connect specific actions to this Code of Conduct, the Group has also established the Rules for Handling Intellectual Property Rights, and applies them to Fujitsu and domestic Group companies engaged in intellectual property activities. Furthermore, we strive to reduce the risk of infringing rights held by other parties through measures including thoroughly implementing patent infringement avoidance surveys and OSS license management, and responding to consultations within the Company on contract clauses related to intellectual property.

Priorities for Intellectual Property Management

Under our technology strategy, the Fujitsu Group is consolidating management resources in the five Key Technologies vital for our technology services-Computing, Network, AI, Data & Security, and Converging Technology. By aggregating management resources, we aim to reinforce our technological infrastructure, and to enhance the connection between research and development and business strategies. As a result, we will realize commercialization in an effective and speedy manner, leading to value creation. Accordingly, in intellectual property management, we have positioned the creation and utilization of our intellectual property portfolio with a focus on our five Key Technologies as a strategic priority.

Fujitsu Uvance defines our vision for society in 2030 and is a solution for taking on sustainable transformation. The five Key Technologies are also the technological infrastructure behind Fujitsu Uvance. Through Fujitsu Uvance, we intend to sustainably grow the Fujitsu Group by transforming into a business that has a better impact on the environment, society, and the economy, as well as on working with customers to create value.

Promotion System for Intellectual Property Management

The Intellectual Property Division contributes to maintaining and reinforcing the Fujitsu Group's competitive advantage and acquiring business opportunities by organizationally promoting intellectual property activities in alignment with the technology and business portfolio strategies, which aggregate our five Key Technologies. During intellectual property activities, we will not only focus on realizing license fees by exercising our rights but also issues including the Group's technological capabilities, pursuit of advantageous offerings, differentiation from the offerings of other companies, and developing new customers and business negotiations. We will achieve this through measures such as patent discovery and acquisition during development, and patent marking during business negotiations.