Japan gets its own IP trade center

Japan gets its own IP trade center
By Yoshiko Hara, EE Times
November 27, 2000 (2:49 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20001110S0072

TOKYO — A dozen electronics companies have launched an IP (intellectual property) trade center aiming to build an IP trading market in Japan. The company, IPTC Corp., will provide services that are essential for IP distribution, such as IP quality evaluation, technical support and trouble solution.

Mitsubishi Corp., Nikkei Business Publication, Inc. and Toshiba Corp. jointly proposed the establishment of the trade center in May and established IPTC Planning Corp. to conduct feasibility study.

In five months, the Japan IP concept gathered nine more proponents: Canon Inc., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Rohm Co. Ltd., Innotech Corp. and THine Electronics, Inc., Spinnaker Systems Inc., Zuken Inc. and Meitec Corp., an engineer staffing company. The companies have transformed the planning company into IPTC Corp.

In the transition to a business comp any, IPTC increased its capital from original 120 billion yen (about $1.1 million) to 430 million yen (about $4 million). The companies that originally proposed the IP outfit—Toshiba, Nikkei BP and Mitsubishi—hold 18.6 percent shares respectively; Canon has 9.03 percent and the rest will share the equity with 4.65 percent to 2.33 percent stakes. Shojiro Mori, former group manager of Toshiba's corporate development center, was named president of the IP trade center.

Large semiconductor companies such as Fujitsu, Hitachi and NEC are not involved in the new company, but "they are in favor of our attempt. The trading center will operate on a membership basis, and they will be the members," an IPTC spokesman said.

IPTC will begin experimental trading within this month and will start to recruit new members next month. IPTC expects 30-50 companies will join. Some foreign companies such as ARM, Infinion and Xilinx are showing interest, according to the spokesman. Regular trading will begin next Ap ril.

IPTC intends to promote their IP trading activity to IP suppliers in overseas as well, but anticipates that practical users of IPs to be dealt will be limited in Japan because the support by the trading center will be limited in Japan for the time being.