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.’

We promote intellectual property strategies not only to protect our core technologies but also to support the expansion of new business domains. The Intellectual Property Department serves as a hub for internal planning and development information and takes the lead in enhancing our market competitiveness.

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

Our patent applications in the F&B market have increased significantly since the start of FY2024, the first year of the 2026 MTP. We regularly explore invention opportunities to file patents and build a strong portfolio strategically based on our customer needs identified by our acquired companies. We work to gain competitive advantage through acquisition of rights to our proprietary specifications and technologies and build a foundation for our business in the F&B market. For the Group’s further business expansion, we aim to double the number of patent applications in the F&B market during the three years of the 2026 MTP.

Glory Group is focusing on business development based on IP landscape analysis. The Intellectual Property Department, which holds extensive information on both internal and external patents, collaborates with business units to evaluate and create new business opportunities, contributing to business expansion.
The IP Department also takes an active part in M&As and new investments to evaluate the IP of target companies and our growth potential in the new business domain based on the Group’s IP landscape.

To protect our unique technologies and gain competitive advantage in the market, our IP Department liaises with our business divisions and acquired companies to explore invention opportunities regularly and obtain IP rights at an early stage for our proprietary technologies and future business ideas.

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 (i.e., Executive Officers) with regard to the use of IP rights, target areas for patent applications, and feasibility of overseas patent applications.

Once a year, we report on the IP activities, budget, and personnel plans to the management, including the president, and discuss future directions of our IP initiatives.
To promote IP strategies across the Group, the IP Department conducts the IP Strategy Meetings with each business unit and works closely with affiliated companies to formulate and monitor the progress of IP strategies.

To support the creation of new business, we;

− Formulate business policies by examining themes, market size, and potential partners based on the Group’s IP landscape.

− Review contract details from an IP perspective.

− Obtain IP clearance for product commercialization.

− Establish a system that enables early patent applications for new technologies, which will develop into our proprietary core 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 total number of applications and patents as we further expand the market.
U.S. is a key overseas market for us with strong future growth potential. To this end, we second members of our IP Department to our U.S. subsidiary to reduce IP-related risks and promote early acquisition of IP rights, aiming to expand the ratio of U.S. in our global IP portfolio.

The Group maintains a strong position in the market with the IP rights obtained for our proprietary technologies. We encourage the use of IP rights in our sales strategies to further increase our brand value and business profits.

To promote the integrated IP activities across the Group, the IP department is implementing the following measures:

− Centrally manages the IP rights held by domestic and overseas group companies and promote unified IP initiatives across the Group.

− Provides IP awareness training to both domestic and overseas group companies.

− Conducts relevance assessment of third-party IP rights in acquired companies engaged in new business development to mitigate IP risks.

− Promptly gathers market information and customer needs from group companies, including invested affiliates, for preemptive patent applications to secure competitive edge in the market.

To raise IP awareness, we provide training for our business planning and engineering divisions, and also the sales divisions in response to our recent business expansion. The IP Department members take specific training as part of their professional development to enhance their expertise. To further encourage inventions, we have improved our reward system with financial incentives to be given for those that are filed or made significant contributions to our business.

Furthermore, by recognizing not only intellectual property rights but also other forms of know-how as part of the Group’s intellectual assets and including them in the scope of invention rewards, we promote the accumulation of internal intellectual property and enhance employee motivation through compensation, thereby contributing to the retention of human resource and the enhancement of corporate value.