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Toshiba Group's policy on intellectual property rights is to observe laws and regulations associated with them, to protect the results of intellectual activities with the rights and make extensive use of those rights, and to respect the legitimate intellectual property rights of third parties, as stipulated in the Toshiba Group Standards of Conduct.
At Toshiba, the Intellectual Property Division, a corporate staff division, is responsible for the protection of intellectual property rights. In-house companies and key group companies also establish their own organizations responsible for intellectual property protection.
Toshiba Group Intellectual Property Management Structure  |
In the course of business, we are likely to be at risk of infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties or facing lawsuits for violating their patents. To reduce or eliminate such risk, Toshiba investigates third party patents and other intellectual property rights related to its business in advance and implements the necessary measures to avoid any infringement of third party rights.
Also, in order to prevent unauthorized use of copyrighted software, we conduct periodic surveys on appropriate software management within group companies in Japan.
With the prevalence of the internet, opportunities to browse through third party copyright works have been increasing, enabling anybody to easily copy them. Under such circumstances, there is an increasing need to prevent the unauthorized use of copyright works.
In view of this, we provide periodic education on copyright to all executives and employees, including those of group companies in Japan.
Failure to take action against counterfeits of Toshiba products would pose not only the risk of damage to Toshiba's brand value and public confidence, but also the risk of purchasing counterfeit products that do not meet the quality expectations of customers who mistake them for genuine products.
Accordingly, to ensure that customers can purchase Toshiba products with confidence and peace of mind, we are striving to eliminate such counterfeit products that infringe Toshiba's intellectual property rights, in cooperation with public agencies. In the event that counterfeit products are discovered in the overseas market, we will take constructive and systematic countermeasures by directly visiting the local government official in order to exchange opinions about necessary measures. In China, the "TOSHIBA" and "Toshiba" (in Chinese characters) have been recognized as well-known trademarks. In recent years, various counterfeit products have been discovered and skillful counterfeiting cases are increasing. By utilizing the "well-known trademark" recognition, we will continue reinforcing preventive measures to achieve a fundamental solution to the problem of counterfeits products, which is expected to become larger and more complex in the future.
As of June 30, 2009, there are no matters related to intellectual property rights that correspond to operational risks recorded in the annual securities report.
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