Philips Reaches Milestone Of 100,000 Patents
SourceAmsterdam, The Netherlands, December 16, 2003 - Royal Philips Electronics (AEX: PHI; NYSE: PHG) has recently reached the impressive milestone of 100,000 patents, confirming its excellence as a highly innovative company. Philips generates significant revenues through its pro-active intellectual property strategy. The income from intellectual property is essential for the discovery of innovative technology and the development of new products, as it is used almost entirely to help fund Philips' Research & Development.
Some examples of important patented Philips-inventions are CD, DVD, JPEG, MPEG (digital video), Xenon car lights, UHP lights for projectors and GSM speech codification. Over the last five years, Philips has tripled the annual number of inventions for which it seeks patents from 1,000 to 3,000. For the last two years, Philips has been the number one company in patent applications with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
According to Gerard Kleisterlee, CEO of Philips, 'reaching the milestone of 100,000 patents is a fantastic achievement. It is a logical consequence of our strategy to activate the value of our technological knowledge. Our intellectual property portfolio determines our value as a company in what we call the "Intellectual Economy", the market where technology is traded. We use our patents more and more as a tool for sharing our technology with other companies, for example, by licensing our patents. As a result, we continue to provide the world with useful and convenient innovations that enhance the quality of life.'
Annually, Philips selects about 3,000 inventions, out of more than 8,000 proposed ideas, for patent applications. Most of these inventions will normally translate into more than one patent each, as applications are filed in various jurisdictions. Some 20,000 inventions underlie the 100,000 patents. In addition to its patents, Philips is also the owner of 22,000 brands, 11,000 model rights and 2,000 domain names. To manage this impressive IPR-portfolio, Philips employs approximately 300 specialists in IPR in 23 offices worldwide. Philips is one of the leading companies in the world in terms of income derived from intellectual property.
In the past, patent applications were mainly filed to safeguard Philips' exclusive use of its innovations. Nowadays, value creation is the central strategy. Value can be created by Philips' own use of a patent, but also through the sale, licensing, exchange or pooling of patents. This strategy of value creation is not only beneficial to Philips. It also fosters innovation in the wider economy, as new technologies are made available to other companies.
(Quelle: Philips Electronics)