Statement of Purpose

Vision & Mission

In a knowledge-based economy, proprietary information held as intangible assets (IA) accounts for a major share of corporate value. These invisible assets include information used in business—technical inventions, procurement, manufacturing know-how, inspection methods, customer information, business partners, management strategy and more. They drive product differentiation and sales. When such assets are not adequately protected, however, businesses can be forced into price competition. Securing sustainable profits therefore requires identifying these invisible assets as intellectual property (IP) and protecting and utilizing them strategically.

Since 2002, the Japanese government has promoted a national policy of becoming an intellectual property-based nation, encouraging the protection of business through IP and greater public awareness of intellectual property. Yet patent filings have often been overemphasized, while IP's fundamental contribution to profits and practical responses to technology leakage, misappropriation and counterfeiting have not functioned adequately. Viewed through price-to-book ratios (PBR), the value attributed to intangible assets in Japan is approximately one-twelfth of the global average—effectively close to zero. This clearly points to shortcomings in the management of intangible assets and IP and to an inadequate response to the knowledge economy.

As shown in Figure 1, IP can be considered in two broad categories. The first is filing-based IP, protected through applications to the Japan Patent Office and related industrial property rights. The second is non-filing-based IP: the far larger body of proprietary information protected through copyright law, the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, tort law under Article 709 of the Civil Code and other legal frameworks. Filing-based IP entails disclosure risks and costs, and it cannot protect a business on its own. Total IP management must also encompass the proprietary information essential to commercialization. We need to move beyond a filing-first approach.

In advanced IP economies such as the United States, total IP management—including non-filing-based IP—forms part of strategic business management. Japan, by contrast, has remained at a comparatively basic management level, seeking to protect businesses primarily through large volumes of patent and other applications. Patent quality is low, rights holders lose approximately 80 percent of patent litigation, and innovative university research on IP has stagnated. In our view, Japan has become an IP follower and has been overtaken by countries including China.

Against this background, SIR was established primarily to complement Japan's intellectual property policy through the protection and utilization of non-filing-based IP. Our objective is to contribute to an advanced IP society that can serve as an international model and to the realization of a fair society based on mutual prosperity.

Our activities include providing affordable mechanisms that use information technology to establish corporate intangible assets as IP without relying solely on formal filings—an IP registration and certification system; protecting IP through independent third-party certification by a public interest incorporated association; identifying products that use registered IP through the world's first IP Code system shown in Figure 2; countering counterfeit goods; raising public IP awareness; improving IP quality through the use of AI; storing IP securely in the cloud; and conducting pioneering research and public education concerning a new model for protecting and utilizing IP, which we call the IP Brand Model. A distinctive feature of SIR's registration system is its ability to register multimedia information, including documents, photographs, audio and video.

Going forward, we will continue to evolve and improve our IP registration systems so that, alongside technical inventions, what we call “cultural inventions”—including literature, music, film, manga, artistic and skilled practices, ceramics and other works of art—can also be valued, protected and utilized, thereby enhancing the value of Japan's rich culture around the world. Through this work, SIR seeks to lead an intellectual paradigm shift toward a fair, sound and developing society. We sincerely appreciate your understanding and support.