INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY
We conduct technology
development in order to facilitate the
advancement of electronic components that are constantly evolving.
We protect hard-earned technological innovations by acquiring intellectual property rights, so that those innovations can supply highly competitive systems to customers while leaving the competition far behind. Tokyo Weld is committed to making people’s lives better through electronic component manufacturing, together with the customers who use those systems.
With a belief that intellectual property rights are a vital business resource, Tokyo Weld firmly believes in clearly specifying and protecting its intellectual property rights, thus also earning the trust and confidence of customers. Recognizing that it is a medium-sized enterprise that must make the most of its limited resources, our intellectual property strategy focuses on select technological areas.
Main initiatives
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Promotion of patent application by the Patent Office
The Patent Office reviews the objectives of R&D projects conducted by the business units and development staff from time to time as needed. When research findings are identified as crucial to our business strategy, the staff of the Patent Office examines those findings with the development engineers, and if their novelty and importance are verified, the staff swiftly moves to file patent applications to secure rights to such findings.
As Tokyo Weld operates its business globally, it has been actively filing patent applications not only in Japan but throughout the world. -
Monitoring of patents held by other companies
In order to prevent patent and trademark disputes with other companies, Tokyo Weld is constantly monitoring and conducting investigations from the time when R&D objectives are decided until the results of R&D activities are introduced to the market. Utmost care is taken to ensure that none of the technologies or products developed by Tokyo Weld infringe upon the rights of other companies.
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Reward system for employee inventions
Tokyo Weld has a reward system for employee inventions, for each stage of the patenting procedure from patent application filing to patent registration. By effectively using this system, Tokyo Weld encourages its employees to fully engage in intellectual property activities.
Sample case of patented technology
Proprietary high-speed component carriage technology utilizing dielectric adsorption force
The TWA-4101/4102 series of six-sided optical inspection machines has been one of our main product lines since the late 2010s. The product uses patented proprietary component carriage technology to perform optical inspection of as many as 12,000 electronic components per minute. This carriage technology applies the dielectric adsorption force created based on Coulomb’s law, and it can steadily maintain the alignment and attitude of electronic components even on a fast-rotating glass plate. This innovative technology has allowed Tokyo Weld to achieve a processing speed that was previously unheard of in the industry. As a result, Tokyo Weld has captured the largest share of the market for electronic component optical inspection machines, thanks to its unrivaled and superior performance.
Comparison of component alignment with and without dielectric adsorption
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If the patented technology is
‘not’ used -
If the patented technology ‘is’ used,
the electronic components are able to maintain their alignment and attitude steadily.
Cover of the patent document
A device and a method for conducting Optical inspections of works
Patent no. 5598912 / Patent application publication 2011-133458
Our registered trademarks and patents
We have the following number of registered patents.
We are committed to supplying products to its customers while fully utilizing its intellectual property.
Number of patent
applications filed
(Japan)243
Number of patent
applications filed
(Overseas)301
Number of patents
registered
(Japan)91
Number of patents
registered
(Overseas)216
As of April 1, 2018