Utilization of Licensable Patents

Encouraging of patent licensing through use of licensable patents
(Licensing Promotion Department)

The Department encourages small and venture businesses to actively create new businesses and develop new products by facilitating the smooth transfer of licensable patents (patents whose owners have the intention of making them licensable) between corporations as well as between corporations and universities/public testing and research institutions.

Experts who help support the promotion of patent licensing (Patent Licensing Advisors) are dispatched to mediate, offer consultations, and provide training and educational programs on patent licensing and technology transfers. To increase the recognition of measures for encouraging patent licensing, moreover, the Department holds comprehensive seminars on these business operations, called "Seminar for Encouraging Patent Licensing", in various parts of Japan.

The Department offers ideas on how licensable patents may be used. This may be done through provision of information on licensable patents included in the patent licensing database, and through Examples of Licensable Patent Utilization. The Department also provides Charts for Supporting Patent Licensing that analyze the trends of domestic patents and corporations. Companies hoping to create new businesses will find these charts useful as an index for introducing and transferring technologies. Moreover, the Department dispatches specialists on patent information research (Patent Information Advisor) to help small and venture businesses in the regional community develop technologies and introduce patents by using patent information.

By organizing training programs, holding international seminars, and carrying out other activities, the Department establishes the environment for developing and fostering individuals who will play central roles in the patent licensing market in the future. At the same time, it publicizes a list of patent licensing agent to make this business better known in Japan, and to provide opportunities for the public to access the business agents.