Intellectual Property Protection

Basic Stance Toward Intellectual Property

The basic principles of Advantest's intellectual property management are compliance with intellectual property laws and regulations and respect for the intellectual property of third parties.

Organization of Intellectual Property Management

Advantest establish the intellectual property management systems seen below and we manage appropriately the intellectual property with cooperation of business units, Advantest laboratories and corporate planning department (cooperating organizations, universities, etc.) in Japan, Germany and the U.S., our major development bases.

The Intellectual Property Department conducts monthly online meetings with intellectual property managers in Germany, the U.S., Singapore and China, joining forces with the IP Strategic Committee in each area to promote intellectual property activities in accordance with business unit, research and management plans.

The Patent Remuneration Committee consists of members in Japan, Germany and the U.S., and the members meet together to determine the Business Contribution Awards and the Prizes for Excellent Invention Awards every year.

The IP Strategic Committee is selected from among the various business unit, laboratories and corporate planning department in Japan, Germany and the U.S., and develops the patent application strategies linked to the business strategies.

Providing Information to the Management and the Business Units

The strength of Advantest is our state-of-the-art technological capabilities. Therefore, we believe protecting our intellectual property as the source of our competitiveness vital to persist as an enterprise. In recent years, Advantest has been working to protect and manage our intellectual property, as well as to leverage our and other companies' intellectual properties. For instance, Advantest promotes an IP landscape and provides information on intellectual property to the management and each business unit.

Intellectual Property Education

Advantest conducts education on intellectual property every year and strives to raise each employees' awareness of intellectual property.
In fiscal 2022, we conducted a two-day training, including a series of hands-on training, for new technical employees to acquire knowledge on intellectual property necessary for engineers. In addition, we provided intellectual property training on our ethical standards, stipulated under "14. Protection of Assets and Confidentiality" of The Advantest Way, for all employees of the Advantest Group via e-Learning.
As part of our Efforts Toward Social Contribution, we held classes and workshops for elementary school students to promote IP creation education. Please refer to "Community Activities" for details.

Disputes and Litigation Relating to Intellectual Property

As of March 31, 2023 there were no such disputes.