Journey
Canon Medical Systems Intellectual Property Department
The medical business represents a part of Canon’s “Grand Strategic Transformation,” and Canon Medical Systems Corporation (below, Canon Medical) plays a central role in this business.
Under our corporate slogan, “Made for Life” (“Made for patients. Made for partnerships. Made for you.”), which expresses our desire to contribute to medical care that saves precious lives, we go about our business in order to realize higher quality medical care.
At Canon Medical, the Intellectual Property Department conducts intellectual property activities in daily cooperation with the R&D and business divisions, with the mission of contributing to business growth by growing and exploiting the technical assets of the Group as a whole. The technical assets handled by our Intellectual Property Department are not limited to patents, but include designs, trademarks, copyrighted works, know-how, data, and a wide range of other assets. Here, we will introduce some of these activities, mainly focusing on patents.
Daily study of a wide and deep range of techniques
The three areas that Canon Medical focuses on are “diagnostic imaging,” including CT, MRI, ultrasound, and X-ray diagnostic equipment; “healthcare IT,” which covers medical data collected in clinical practice, such as patient health and medical information; and “bioscience,” including blood analysis and COVID-19 testing.
More than 500 new inventions are created annually by our R&D centers in Japan and abroad, and patent applications are filed in various countries, with a focus on Japan, the U.S., Europe and China, forming a worldwide patent portfolio of more than 10,000 patents (surveyed in 2023, including patent applications pending).
The excellent clinical value of these inventions and technologies is also highly regarded outside the company. Recently, for example, the company has won major prizes (Imperial Invention Award, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award and Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation Chairman's Award) for three consecutive years at the National Commendation for Invention organized by the Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation.
Inventions handled by the Intellectual Property Department have an extremely wide range of technologies, and not only do their principles and mechanisms differ from each other, but each of them is complex and may be extremely difficult to understand. Healthcare is a fast-evolving field, with papers and patents being published all the time.
For this reason, the Intellectual Property Department’s personnel are expected to study and learn on a daily basis.
This study can take many forms. As part of our efforts to understand these inventions, sometimes we ask the inventor questions while drawing diagrams on a whiteboard to elicit answers, sometimes we visit a laboratory to have the inventor operate the actual equipment, and sometimes we visit a manufacturing facility on the same site to see the actual product from a distance and get a feel for its size, movement, materials, etc. Once back at our desks, we read internet sites and technical literature recommended by the inventors, and discuss and confirm our own understanding with our colleagues, supervisors, and patent attorneys. This allows us, little by little, to decipher these difficult technologies and make them our own.
As we gain a better understanding and are able to discuss further development of the invention, inventors come to rely on us, and we feel satisfaction in being involved in acquiring the rights to them.
Canon Medical handles a wide variety of advanced technologies, and the scope of these technologies is getting broader and broader.
There is always new study to be started, but for the personnel that work in our Intellectual Property Department, to broaden the scope of our technical fields is to increase the satisfaction our work provides. All of us are working together and learning more and more every day.
Global activities with a diverse range of partners
At its R&D centers in Japan and overseas, Canon Medical conducts R&D for the core technologies used in the company’s products and development on manufacturing technologies. Our major R&D centers are located in the U.S., U.K., and China.
Because of the importance of these overseas R&D sites, Intellectual Property Department personnel are required to work closely with each overseas site and provide extensive support with respect to intellectual property activities.
For example, staff routinely communicate with engineers at overseas offices in English via e-mail and online meetings, while managing IP activity goals, evaluating and refining inventions, assisting with application procedures, and conducting educational activities regarding patents.
In a recent invention relating to cutting-edge image processing technology, researched and developed at Canon Medical Research USA, Inc. (CMRU), engineers from CMRU, engineers from Canon Medical, and personnel from the Intellectual Property Department repeatedly conducted joint multidisciplinary investigations to refine the invention and make new discoveries from various perspectives.
Since each R&D center has a different background, styles of communication are more diverse than in Japan. When we are able to work with such a variety of partners in mutual understanding and integrated activities based on common goals, we realize the joy of conducting activities on a global scale.
In recent years, Canon Medical has been actively pursuing M&A and collaboration with overseas companies. We will continue to develop and accelerate our intellectual property activities on a global scale in order to draw in new partners from an intellectual property perspective as well.
Respect for medical professionals and taking charge of their inventions
Canon Medical is engaged in joint research and development with many medical institutions and universities in Japan and overseas. This is because synergy between Canon Medical’s technological capabilities and the knowledge of medical professionals speeds up the development of valuable medical devices.
The Intellectual Property Department has a significant role to play in this joint research and development.
Before R&D begins, intellectual property-related contract clauses are defined in consultation with the medical institution or university on how the intellectual property to be created should be handled. When opinions differ, we discuss in detail how social implementation based on the details of research and inventions would be mutually beneficial to each other and to society. When we reach an agreement on terms that satisfy both parties, we feel a sense of accomplishment that we have contributed to the development of research and medicine.
Once research and development has begun and active discussions are held between our engineers and medical professionals, we pick up all the ideas generated in the discussions as inventions and promptly proceed with the necessary procedures, such as filing applications with the patent office. Occasionally, Intellectual Property Department personnel also participate in discussions with the medical professionals alongside the engineers, expressing their views as intellectual property experts and working together to create the invention.
Intellectual Property Department staff try to gain a first-hand understanding of the medical needs behind the technology and inventions when speaking directly with doctors who work on the front lines of medicine on a daily basis.
What amazing benefits will be brought to patients and medical professionals when these technologies and inventions are implemented in society, and how can they contribute to medicine as a result?
Doctors will give you first-hand information that you cannot get from the internet or books.
Through these experiences, we have renewed and deepened our respect for medical professionals and feel a sense of pride in our technology, and, as the custodians of important inventions, we will continue to obtain the rights for them in a responsible manner.
Taking “Made for Life” to our hearts
Every member of the Intellectual Property Department has taken to heart the desire to contribute to medical care that saves precious lives. The vision that we at the Intellectual Property Department are aiming for now is to become widely relied upon as the “brain” of Canon Medical by acting based on the expertise and long-term perspective that only intellectual property specialists can provide.
