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.

By adequately protecting the results of such intellectual property investments and working to create new value by steadily pursuing activities that promote their diverse application, the NTT Group aims to not only secure its business advantage but also contribute to the enhanced industrial competitiveness of Japan as well as to global sustainability.

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.

Number of NTT's held patents and patent applications:

The patent portfolio held by NTT reflects our investment in intellectual property across a wide variety of fields, from hardware-related fields such as semiconductors and materials to software fields such as communications control, security, voice and image processing, artificial intelligence, and more.

Portfolio of NTT's held patents (in Japan) by technological field:

An example of our portfolio when seen from a business field perspective is our creation of applied inventions meant to secure our business advantage in the globally high-profile AI business that have in mind business applications in a variety of industries instead of only fundamental technologies in fields such as learning technology.

Intellectual property portfolio related to green transformation (GX)

For the five green transformation (GX) technologies in the "GXTI (Green Transformation Technologies Inventory)" technological category created by the Japan Patent Office in June 2022 in order to establish a panoramic perspective of GX technologies, NTT can confirm that the research and development outcomes it has nurtured over time has yielded the creation of patents in energy supply (gxA), batteries and energy storage (gxC), energy saving, electrification and demand-supply flexibility (gxB), and other various GX-related fields.

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.

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 2023, conducted November 2023, saw the participation of over 500 individuals from 63 Group companies, covering a diverse range of professions.

During the event, lively discussions took place on timely topics provided not only by the NTT Intellectual Property Center, but also by intellectual property managers from various Group companies, leading to a significant rise in interest and understanding of intellectual property.

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.

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, and also reviews these incentive systems as needed.