Intellectual Property/Compliance with Anti-Monopoly Act/Information Securtiy

Guidelines and Initiatives on Intellectual Property

The Fujibo Group is proactively undertaking strategic initiatives related to intellectual property to strengthen our technological competitiveness for global expansion and to enhance our corporate value. Specifically, we strive to secure the superiority of our business and contribute to a sustainable society through the appropriate protection of intellectual property rights, the proactive utilization of intellectual property rights, the pursuit of innovation in original technology, and the monitoring of patent registrations in the global market.

At the same time, we are striving to promote our business in a fair way so as not to infringe other companies' rights from the R&D phase.

1. Organizational system

The "Intellectual Property Office" has general control over patents, utility models, designs and trademarks among intellectual property. The Intellectual Property Office has established a management system to facilitate the strategic acquisition and management of our intellectual property and secures business advantages and a certain degree of freedom in research and development to promote the strategic use of the intellectual property as sources of the company's competitiveness.

2. Invention and innovation promotion system

As a system to promote the creation of intellectual property, we have established an award system for outstanding inventions that contribute to our business, and a reward system to return substantial benefits for employee inventions.

3. Education system

We hold workshops for relevant departments for the understanding and establishment of basic ideas of intellectual property and carry out activities to encourage all employees to protect and utilize intellectual property. Further, we are improving our education system on intellectual property, such as inviting external experts to give practical lectures for front-line development and sales personnel on how to handle risks associated with intellectual property and give lectures for new employees or candidates for promotion.

4. Actions against counterfeit products

Textile products, such as B.V.D., have a risk of brand damage caused by unauthorized use of the brand by third parties. For this reason, we are resolutely taking action against the sale of counterfeit products of our brand and the use and description of similar trademarks through the monitoring of Internet sales sites.

Compliance with Anti-Monopoly Act

The Group strictly prohibits any actions that violate each country's competition laws. In order to ensure that all employees are aware of and thoroughly comply with competition laws, we have established a "Code of Conduct for Compliance with Anti-Monopoly Act" and provide training in competition laws and compliance. We are also working on the establishment of a company-wide compliance system to ensure compliance with the Anti-Monopoly Act, including the establishment of a hotline for consultation about suspicious conduct.

Furthermore, in order to prevent actual or suspected cartel activities, we have set criteria for attending meetings with competitors and industry group meetings, and prohibit inappropriate contact and information exchange with competitors.

Information Security

The Group recognizes various information obtained in the course of our business activities as important assets.

It is our responsibility to properly manage, and prevent leakage of all information assets, including information on research and development, technology and management and confidential information about our customers and clients. In order to properly protect and manage these important assets, we have formulated an "Information Security Policy," with an aim to establish and further improve our information security system. We are attempting to prevent unauthorized access from the outside by ensuring awareness of compliance rules relating to the protection of information, including corporate information and personal information, under the "Information Security Policy."

In order to maintain and manage information security, we also have established a comprehensive management system by instituting an Information Security Committee.

In terms of activities in FY2022, we increased the Group network’s resilience to cyberattacks, provided e-learning programs to improve all employees’ IT literacy and drills on targeted email attacks, and started developing a so-called Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) to put a framework in place for swiftly implementing countermeasures in the unlikely event of a cybersecurity incident.

Other Corporate Governance Initiatives