Intellectual Property

Policies and Concepts

Approach to Intellectual Property Activities

The NTT Group, which engages in R&D, from basic to applied, in a wide range of technological fields, has accumulated intellectual property investments (R&D investments) over the years as a telecommunications operator that are unparalleled around the globe.
The NTT Group has established an Activity Policy to provide security and safety and support the growth of the NTT Group's businesses as they continue to take on the challenge of creating new value and contributing to the sustainability of the planet. It promotes the formulation of an intellectual property strategy and appropriate protections for the intellectual property gained from our investments, all while respecting the intellectual property of others.

Organization for Implementation

The NTT Group's Intellectual Property Management Organization

As the NTT Group's core organization for managing intellectual property, the NTT Intellectual Property Center takes into account medium-term viewpoints in accordance with corporate strategy as it creates management policies shared across the NTT Group, cooperates with the intellectual property departments of each Group company through the NTT Group Intellectual Property Management Council, and works to realize management conducted through repeated sharing of information and discussion.

Liaisons under this Council that specialize in legal systems and work involving intellectual property have also been established to work to establish governance and reduce business risk by sharing trends, as well as thoughts on their effects and possible countermeasures with regards to reforms of domestic and international systems, examples of conflicts, and examples of court decisions.

The NTT Group's Intellectual Property Management Organization

Targets and Performance

(10) Number of patent applications
FY 2023 results: 1,968 applications
FY 2024 target: Same as previous FY

The results of R&D, which plays a major role in the creation of intellectual property for NTT Group, has translated into ownership of approximately 20,000 patents around the world.

We will move forward with patent applications under the IOWN concept, continuing to expand new inventions focused on the fundamental technologies supporting NTT's future business, reevaluating unused rights, and maintaining the previous year's scale while updating the patent portfolio into one in alignment with global business.

Comparison of SDGs-related Patents Held by the NTT Group and 3 Other Industry Groups ^*1

Many of the patents held by the NTT Group are those related to SDGs. The Group is constructing a patent portfolio that contributes to each goal of SDGs. For Goal 7 (affordable and clean energy) and Goal 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure) in particular, it includes various patents for advanced technologies such as IOWN and 5G/6G.

^※1Created based on data current as of August 2025 from PatentSight®, a patent analysis tool provided by LexisNexis.

^※2An indicator for the competitive advantage and overall value of a patent portfolio. Calculated based on quantitative and qualitative indices.

IOWN All-Photonics Network Technology and Sustainability

The All-Photonics Network technology that sustains the core of the IOWN concept drives forward proofs of concept co-created by operating companies together with customers, accelerating initiatives aimed toward social implementation. This technology contributes to dramatically increased energy efficiency and reduction of CO2 emissions, making possible declines in the overall environmental impact of ICT infrastructure. Not only does this help NTT contribute to the realization of a carbon-neutral society, it also works towards the construction of a foundation capable of sustainable growth from an ESG management perspective.

NTT Laboratories promote research and development of the constituent technologies that act as the core of this All-Photonics Network technology. With regards to research results, we take into account future international standardization and operating company business strategy as we create innovations and secure rights for the purpose of leading safe and secure business expansion and the market competitiveness of businesses.

(As of August 2025)

AI-related Patent Portfolio

From a business perspective, we are actively pursuing patents for our portfolio in, for example, the field of generative AI, which is expected to attract significant public interest going forward.

According to a report issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on July 9, 2024, NTT ranks 13th worldwide in the number of patent applications related to generative AI filed over the ten years from 2014 to 2023.

^*Source: Patent Landscape Report - Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)

Moreover, we are working to secure a competitive advantage in business by obtaining a wide range of patents, not only for fundamental technologies such as learning technologies, but also inventions that apply them for business in a variety of industries.

Number of Japanese patent applications in the CX field (contact centers)

NTT's large language model (LLM) "tsuzumi," which launched for commercial use on March 25, 2024, is lightweight yet boasts world-class Japanese processing capabilities. Our years of accumulated research and development in natural language processing is especially expected to benefit the CX field (such as contact centers), which is one of the focal business sectors, and our high number of Japanese patent applications also suggests a significant technological advantage in this field.

(As of October 2024)

Comparison of fields of application between NTT and two competitors in the AI field

(As of October 2024)

The competitive advantage underpinned by intellectual property rights attracts the interest of customers and partner companies, leading to collaborative projects with NTT. This creates opportunities for customers to adopt "tsuzumi" and services and solutions that utilize the LLM. This also contributes to the revenue of data centers and network products that underlie these services. In this way, intellectual property rights play a significant role in ensuring NTT's sustained growth.

Main Initiatives

Intellectual Property Strategy Formulation and Implementation

To achieve the Medium-Term Management Strategy, the NTT Intellectual Property Center formulates and implements an intellectual property strategy as part of a trifecta including both business and R&D strategies from the perspectives of (1) strategic acquisition, (2) risk management, and (3) utilization of intellectual properties held, based on the policies and concepts for intellectual property activities.

Initiatives to Respect Third-Party Intellectual Property Rights

When NTT Group companies use research and development technologies as a part of their business, investigations are conducted regarding the rights of others in Japan and overseas at all steps from initial research and development to offering such technology to group companies in order to keep from infringing on the intellectual property rights of third parties. By sharing Japanese and international revisions to systems, examples of disputes, legal precedents, and other intellectual property trends and their influences with group companies, we work to comply with intellectual property laws and regulations while reducing business risks.

Intellectual Property Education / Human Resources Training Initiatives

Initiatives to raise NTT Group employee awareness relating to intellectual property

The NTT Group conducts e-learning training, awareness-raising activities, and more for employees primarily through the intellectual property departments of each company in accordance with that company's unique characteristics.

From the perspective of the NTT Group as a whole, the NTT Intellectual Property Center has been holding a cross-Group comprehensive event known as IPR*-DAY since FY 2022, with the aim of elevating the level of interest in intellectual property among Group employees and helping them integrate this knowledge into their daily work.
(*Intellectual Property Right)

IPR-DAY 2024, conducted November 2024, saw the participation of over 820 individuals from 80 Group companies, covering a diverse range of professions. In addition to invited lectures from external speakers, the day featured introductions of efforts from the NTT Intellectual Property Center and group companies where research and development, business, and intellectual property worked as one, further heightening our awareness of how to efficiently employ intellectual property within our work and business.
A website for Group employees opened by the NTT Intellectual Property Center also aims to raise employee awareness through regularly communicating basic knowledge, columns explaining news, and other information related to intellectual property.

Invention Incentive System

In accordance with the employee invention system stipulated in the Patent Act, each Group company has established an invention incentive system in order to increase incentives to create technologies, business-related ideas, and more that will act as future sources of business.

It is essential to continuously produce high-quality inventions in line with intellectual property strategy in order to maintain and expand a patent portfolio that contributes to sustained corporate value growth. By 1: Creating high-quality rights, 2: Actively applying rights, and 3: Motivating inventors through early incentives, the NTT Intellectual Property Center continuously creates and fosters high-quality inventions, putting in place systems that sustainably maintain a patent portfolio that is strong both in quality and quantity.

The Invention Incentive System plays a role in this, and based on the objectives of the Patent Act, the NTT Intellectual Property Center provides incentives for the creation of ideas as early as possible in order to promote cycles of creation that will lead to new ideas, reviewing these incentive systems in April 2024 for such purposes. These new systems use an AI model trained on past NTT patent usage data to evaluate the value of inventions and award incentives.
By making active use of rights to increase usage data and update this AI model, we will more efficiently move through the cycle of rights usage, early incentives, and the creation of new high-quality inventions, preserving this source of sustainable growth for the NTT Group.