Intellectual Property Rights Management

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Email: ESG@wistron.com

Intellectual Property Rights Management

Intellectual Property Rights Management

Intellectual Property Rights Management Policy

Wistron places great importance on the management of intellectual capital. We have strengthened our R&D capabilities, introduced high value added products and technical services for innovative functions, and improved manufacturing efficiency and quality through the intellectual property rights management policy. Wistron establishes, accumulates, maintains, and manages a comprehensive IP portfolio for the future. Furthermore, we use risk management to enhance the competitive capabilities of the Company and increase profits. In the future, we will continue to implement our intellectual capital management plan by integrating the Company’s strategic considerations and operating goals to implement the real time production, management, and monetization of intellectual property rights.


Wistron's principles regarding intellectual property rights management are as follows:



Patent portfolio management

Wistron’s patent strategy is based on developing a healthy, sustainable and high performing global patent portfolio. As of today, we have an extensive patent portfolio of over 6,000 granted patents worldwide. We protect all technologies, designs, and inventions developed by the Company through our comprehensive patent portfolio, in order to maintain customer interests.

The patent team does not only work closely with the research and development units, but also gets high-quality ideas and produces goal-oriented invention disclosures through brainstorming meetings, patent big data analysis, invention disclosure review meetings and other related mechanisms. We have established more than two hundred review items to strengthen the review of the patent specification and implement strict management and control of patent quality. The items cover the entire patent prosecutions process to maintain the level of quality of each granted patent. We continue to improve the expertise of patent personnel and the patent knowledge of all employees internally, and evaluate patent firms externally. In order to encourage employees to invent and create, we have stipulated the Invention Reward Regulation to improve services and product quality and functions, strengthen our competitive capabilities, and explore future development opportunities. We provide incentives for inventors and publicly recognize their efforts during our Annual Patent Award Ceremony.

For the quantity and quality control of patents, in addition to home-grown production, co-development, acquisition, and investment for accumulating high value patents, we also drop unused patents. We use consistent standards to quantify patent evaluations, in order to precisely control the scope and value of patents and improve the deployment of our patent portfolio through various indicators. While maintaining a sizable patent portfolio, expanding the scope of technologies, improving patent quality, and increasing the overall value and benefits of patents, we will continue to improve the transparency and integrity of our patent portfolio. Wistron promotes the vitalization of patents to achieve the optimization and value maximization of our patent portfolio and monetization efforts.



Protect trade secrets and confidential information

Trade secrets and confidential information are important intellectual properties of Wistron. We use related control mechanisms to ensure the protection of trade secrets and confidential information. Apart from maintaining our competitive edge, the protected information provides the drive for innovation and ensures the customer’s rights and interests. No substantiated complaints concerning breaches of customer privacy and losses of customer data were received by the Company in 2023

In order to protect the confidential information of Wistron and our customers, Wistron obtained the information security management system international standard ISO/IEC 27001 certification and implemented management. We conduct social engineering drills once every 6 months to improve employee awareness of phishing emails. The click rate in the 2023 drill has been lowered to7.1%. Meanwhile, we conduct confidential information and trade secret protection training for all new employees, in order to ensure that employees fulfill our confidentiality commitments to our customers.

We have signed confidentiality agreements with our customers and related suppliers. Both parties are required to protect confidential information. In the past 5 years, we have signed an average of 400 to 700 confidentiality agreements every year. Customer information is handled by designated units to reduce the possibility of improper disclosure and leaks. We have also joined the Taiwan Association for Trade Secrets Protection to continue tracking changes to related laws and the industry.



The Implementation of Intellectual Property Rights Management

 

Wistron has enacted a formal intellectual property rights management policy since 2020. Highlights of Wistron’s management of intellectual property rights matters in 2023 include the following, which have been reported to Wistron’s board of directors on December 21, 2023:

  1. Wistron established a complete information security management system, which was certified as ISO/IEC 27001:2013.
  2. All new employees must complete a training course that pertains to the protection of confidential information/ trade secrets to ensure that each employee will adhere to Wistron’s confidentiality commitments and policy when dealing with customers. Besides, Wistron has conducted social media and electronic mail simulation drills every 6 months to increase every employee’s awareness of phishing letters. 
  3. Wistron has signed NDAs with its clients, suppliers, and the relevant supply chains to request mutual protection of confidential information.
  4. Wistron has used Microsoft's SCCM software to carry out software inventory regularly. Furthermore, Wistron has required new employees to take a software license course, and 12,991 personnel have passed this course up to November 30, 2023.
  5. Wistron’s patent portfolio ranks second to none in the peer competitors in the industry, and the comprehensive index scores of patent quality and value have improved significantly.
  6. Wistron has evaluated its patent portfolio every year and has eliminated those patents that are out of date or relatively low quality/value (such as due to expiration, sale, or abandonment).
  7. Wistron has been selected by Clarivate as one of the Top 100 Global Innovators 2022 (global patent portfolio evaluation).
  8. To protect Wistron’s registered trademarks, Wistron controls the information about the use and application of trademarks in every country through a global monitoring system and will file an opposition against those third-party trademarks that are similar to Wistron’s. Up to now, approximately 80 oppositions have been filed, and the success rate exceeds 90%.
 

Wistron’s intellectual property rights portfolio:

  1. Patent: Wistron owns more than 6,300 multinational patents (covering wider technology/ product fields and countries, and over 90% are invention patents) and designs worldwide.
  2. Trademark: Wistron currently owns about 880 registered multinational trademarks. 750 trademarks were renewed, and 130 have been abandoned.

To enhance Wistron's brand image and brand trust, the focus and goals of the  management policies of 2024 are as follows:

Intellectual  Policy: 
1. Implementing confidentiality management.
2. Strengthening the execution and auditing capabilities of authorized units for intellectual property management.
3. Strengthening the organization's intellectual property concepts and capabilities.
4. Strengthening intellectual property management.
 
Intelligent management goals:
1. At least one training session on confidential information management.
2. At least one training session on "Intellectual Property Management Audit" for responsible personnel.
3. Update the contents of the "Intellectual Property Knowledge Center" every six months and add case studies in the center.
4. Continue to pass the Taiwan Intellectual Property Management System (TIPS) certification by the Industrial Development Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding Wistron's intellectual property policy, please contact Email: ESG@wistron.com