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 2026 Medium-Term Management Plan is guided by two key strategic priorities: "Developing new revenue streams" and "Increasing profitability of its core business."

Our intellectual property strategy supports these priorities by protecting core technologies and fostering growth in new business domains. Leveraging its unique position at the intersection of planning, development, and business strategy, the Intellectual Property Department collaborates closely with business units and group companies to enhance competitiveness and accelerate innovation.

In the Food & Beverage (F&B) market, a key strategic focus area, we seek to secure a competitive advantage through the timely acquisition of intellectual property rights.
Patent filings related to the F&B market have increased significantly since FY2024, the first year of the 2026 MTP. Working closely with business units and group companies, we proactively identify inventions and secure intellectual property rights based on the market needs, strengthening our patent portfolio in this strategic growth domain. By securing intellectual property rights for proprietary specifications and technologies, we seek to strengthen our competitive position and create a stronger platform for growth in the F&B market. By the end of fiscal 2026, the final year of the MTP, we aim to double the number of patent applications related to the F&B market compared with fiscal 2023.

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 new business creation, we;

− Leverage IP landscape analysis to evaluate business opportunities, market potential, and prospective partners

− Review contractual arrangements from an intellectual property perspective

− Conduct IP clearance for new products and services

− Establish mechanisms for the early patenting of innovations with the potential to become 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.