Intellectual Property

Glory implements group-wide IP initiatives to enhance its brand value through inventions and the acquisition of IP rights. We promote the use of IP rights in business strategies, while implementing risk avoidance measures based on IP searches to avoid disputes.

The Glory Group promotes its 2026 Medium-Term Management Plan based on the business strategies of ‘Develop new revenue streams’ and ‘Increase profitability of core business.’

Our IP initiatives are promoted not only to protect our core technologies but to expand our new business domain. The IP department takes the lead in internal collaboration to enhance our market competitiveness, based on the information gathered from the business planning/development divisions.

For the Food & Beverage (F&B) market, which is one of our target markets for the 2026 MTP, we intend to obtain IP rights and monetize business early to gain competitive advantage.

Our patent applications in the F&B market have gradually increased since FY2023 and we aim to double the number by FY2026. We support our business growth through preemptive patenting and enhanced patent portfolio, based on the customer needs identified by the companies we have acquired or invested in.

We apply the Group's IP landscape in our business exploration. With its extensive knowledge of patent information within and outside the Group, the IP department works closely with the business divisions to help create opportunities for the Group's growth based on the IP landscape.

The IP landscape is also used in the process of M&As and new investments, where the IP department evaluates the IP of target companies, as well as our growth potential in the new business domain.

To gain an advantage in the market, we work to obtain IP rights ahead of other companies for our proprietary technologies as well as for the benefit of our future businesses.

We facilitate IP Strategy Meetings to ensure our IP strategies are implemented seamlessly across the Group.

Specifically, we implement strategies based on the decisions made in agreement with the heads of our business divisions (Executive Officers), regarding the use of IP rights, areas of focus for patent applications, feasibility of overseas patent applications. Once a year, we report to the management incl. the President to discuss directions on the Group's IP activities, budget, and personnel plans.

Additionally, once a year, we report on the intellectual property activities, budget, and personnel plans to the management team, including the president, and discuss the direction of these activities.

To support the creation of new business, we;

−Formulate business policy based on the Group’s IP landscape to support the discussion on new business themes, market size, and potential collaborators

−Review contract details from an IP perspective

−Obtain IP clearance for product commercialization

−Establish a system to support proactive patent applications for proprietary technologies

The IP department works closely with the business divisions to increase the ratio of strategic patents, which we consider essential in expanding our business domain both in Japan and overseas. To this end, we intend to strengthen our patent portfolio in line with the Group's business strategies and extend the areas of preemptive patenting.

As a KPI, we use the ratio of strategic patent applications against the total applications filed. In Japan, the ratio has increased on average by 10% annually since FY2021, which is the level we aim to maintain going forward.

For overseas, we have set an annual increase target of 5%, while aiming to increase the number of applications and patents held as a whole as we further expand the market.

The Group maintains a strong position in the market with the IP rights of our proprietary technologies. Supported by the initiatives of the IP and the Sales departments, we encourage the use of IP rights in the sales strategies to further increase our brand value and business profits.

To enhance the Group's IP capabilities, the IP department:

−centrally manages the IP rights held by our domestic and international group companies and promote unified IP initiatives across the Group

−oversees the IP activities and initiatives implemented in the group companies and provides training where necessary to raise IP awareness

−conducts relevance assessment in respect to the companies we have invested in and beyond, to reduce business risks

−liaises with our group companies to gather market information and customer needs to file preemptive patent applications and secure competitive edge in the market

To raise IP awareness, we provide training for the Group's business planning and engineering departments. We have also included our sales departments in the training target in response to our recent business expansion. The IP Department offers their own IP training for its members to enrich the expertise as a part of their professional development program. In addition, we have enriched our reward systems to encourage inventions that can contribute to our business expansion.