Mr Sei Aoki, Chief of the IP Portfolio Design & Management Department, shares Bridgestone Corporation’s pressing IP goals and challenges and explains why the company chose Questel’s IP management software to support its ambitious roadmap for growth.
Mr Aoki first joined Bridgestone Corporation as a researcher, working in the research department for approximately 15 years, before moving to the IP department seeking a clearer global overview of the company’s technological assets.
In this interview, he explains the critical missions of his IP department and how migrating to Questel’s IP management software has supported him in achieving those goals.
“When we were looking into all the different IP management systems, it was important to us that our new IPMS be cloud-based to reduce the personnel hours required for its maintenance, and that it be accessible from group companies in Japan and overseas.”
What is the role of an intellectual property department in companies such as Bridgestone Corporation?
“Ultimately, the mission of an IP department is to convert intellectual property (IP) into social and corporate value. To ensure that IP is properly linked to corporate profits, I believe that an IP department cannot exist alone in an organisation. It must be closely aligned with the departments that “produce” IP. When developing a corporate patent strategy or trademark strategy, I also believe it is the IP department’s duty to consider overall optimisation and ensure that a company’s freedom to operate is properly secured.
“To achieve this, the role of an intellectual property department is to share information with each internal business unit, and to act in the interest of the entire company by collaborating with related departments in the creation of inventions, the filing, prosecution, and utilisation of rights, and every process in between.”
How does Bridgestone’s IP department approach this goal?
“Throughout our long history, Bridgestone has cultivated the mindset of Genbutsu Genba, which could roughly be translated as ‘go and see for yourself.’ If you are in the patent filing department, you should not just sit at your desk in front of a computer, considering the corporate patent strategy in isolation. Instead, you should go and interact with the department producing the inventions you are protecting.
“In the past, it was sufficient to wait for inventions to come in from the engineering department and then grant rights without delay. Nowadays, inventions risk being left unnoticed unless the IP department actively establishes contact.
“One of the guidelines of our department is to ‘meet directly with the inventor, talk with them and have them show you the actual product.’ If I am consulted about concluding a contract, for example, I will personally meet the person in charge and ask them to describe the background, the other party, and the sequence of events that led to the need for this contract. In my view, this should be one of the main approaches of an IP department.”
“The IP department must be closely aligned with the departments that ’produce’ IP.”
What were the main drivers for changing your IP management system (IPMS)?
“We needed to upgrade our IP management software, as the support maintenance for the system we had been using was coming to an end. The system we had been using had been customised haphazardly over many years, and there were no documents recording the circumstances and reasons for the customisations or the specifications of those customisations. As a result, the IPMS was very difficult for people unfamiliar with the background to use, and it was quite unpopular within our company.
“When we were looking into all the different IP management systems and undertaking IP management software reviews, it was important to us that our new IPMS be cloud-based to reduce the personnel hours required for its maintenance, and that it be accessible from group companies in Japan and overseas.”
Why did you select Questel’s IPMS—what were the crucial deciding factors?
“One of the major deciding factors was that Questel in Japan was the only Japanese-based IPMS supplier that offered cloud-based functionalities. Overseas vendors also had systems that worked in the cloud, but we were concerned about the support systems of their Japanese distributors. Meanwhile, domestic vendors did not appear to offer many differences in terms of functionality and support systems.
“Following quantitative evaluation of the functions we needed and considering our extensive IP management software reviews, we found that the Japanese version of Questel’s IP management software, Equinox, had the highest affinity with our business and would require less customisation development. Naturally, cost was also an important factor in our decision-making. Less customisation leads to a reduction of implementation costs, and this point also became one of the decisive factors for selecting Questel’s solution.”
What was your experience migrating to your new IPMS?
“We issued our request for proposals (RFP) in July 2020, and the decision to implement Questel’s system was made in October 2020. In the first five months of 2021, we defined our requirements. In my opinion, this definition stage is critical, since it creates a common understanding between the supplier and the user. To define our user requirements, we organised working groups with different members of our IP department and appointed a Project Management Officer (PMO) from our IT department. As a result, we were able to deepen our common understanding and enter the system development phase.
“The migration was completed successfully in November 2022, and operations began. Since it was anticipated that the system would be inundated with inquiries at the beginning of operations, we set up a dedicated email address, created an inquiry contact list, and so on. The inquiries were consolidated and shared with the Questel Japan team for centralized management. The Questel team set up weekly meetings with our team, where we could directly ask questions and learn how to use the system, which was very effective in resolving issues quickly.”
To date, what have been the main benefits of migrating to Questel’s IPMS?
“From an IP management point of view, the introduction of cloud functions has helped reduce personnel hours. In terms of operations, the system’s response time has been greatly improved, and operations can now be performed without stress. In addition, I think it was a good opportunity for us to take stock of our business by redefining our operations in accordance with the functionality of our new IPMS.”
“It was a good opportunity for us to take stock of our business by redefining our operations in accordance with the functionality of our new IPMS.”
What are your future goals for IP at Bridgestone Corporation—and what role will your intellectual property management system play?
“I feel that the scope of IP that needs to be managed by the IP department is increasing. In the past, the scope of IP was limited to patents, designs, and trademarks. These days, however, we also need to manage other types of IP, while new types of patents, such as business model patents, are emerging. Under these circumstances, I believe it is important to manage the various IP rights created by our company without any lapses and without fail. Our IPMS plays a highly important role in this purpose. We look forward to its future evolution.”
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