NEC Awarded More Than 1,800 U.S. Technology Patents in `99; Success of Patent Strategy Makes NEC Leading Non-U.S. Technology Innovator - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Jan 31, 2000

NEC Corporation (NEC) was awarded more U.S. patents than any other non-U.S. company in 1999 and placed second among all recipients of American patents, further strengthening the company's position as a leading technology innovator.

NEC was granted 1,842 patents, or a 13 per cent increase from the total patents granted to NEC in 1998. Today NEC is the top producer in Japan of new patents with yearly increases that average 10 per cent. NEC applied for more than 15,000 patents worldwide in 1999.

"We have long recognized the worldwide importance of U.S. technology patents to our business and the future of technology innovation," said Masato Chiba, executive vice president for intellectual property affairs at NEC Corporation. "Our aggressive patent generation strategy is focused on high value patents that result in more rapid development and commercialization of breakthrough technologies and that directly support the expansion of our business in exciting new fields such as Internet commerce applications, as well as producing invaluable cross licensing opportunities and recurring revenues through royalties."

NEC is renown for its leading technological innovations and it is focusing this strength to Internet-related developments at an aggressive pace. NEC not only spends over $300 million each year on research and development with a continuing emphasis on innovation and commercialization, but is also encouraging management innovation such as cooperation across divisions that is boosting the company's total number of patent applications while maintaining its high, successful registration rate.

The majority of U.S. patents granted to NEC last year were for next-generation communication protocols that will form the basis for future mobile communications enabling users to access the Internet on the move and make video phone calls, as well as for technology patents that will enable the migration to and operation of the Internet. Other significant patents were awarded for MPEG-related technologies that will play a key role in digital consumer electronics by enabling high quality audio and video performance.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark office granted a record 154,594 utility and statutory patents in 1999, topping the record of 151,024 set in 1998, according to IFI Claims Patent Services, a patent tracking firm. FMI: www.nec-global.com or www.nec.com.

NEC Corporation pioneered the concept of C&C, the integration of Computers and Communications, and is the only company in the world to be counted among the top ranking corporations spanning the wide range of fields essential for this vision of multimedia: computers, communications and electron devices. Employing more than 150,000 people around the world, NEC saw net sales in fiscal year 1998-99 amount to 4,759 yen (approx. US$40 billion).