Canon becomes founding member of partnership to combat COVID-19

Canon becomes founding member of partnership to combat COVID-19

In order to contribute to a rapid end to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Canon Inc. has joined the COVID-19 Countermeasure Declaration as a founding member. In doing so, the company has committed to not to enforce its intellectual property rights if they support the development, manufacturing and other processes that aim to stop the virus from spreading. Accoding to a press release, the declaration is to accelerate the production of therapeutic drugs, vaccines, medical devices and infection control products.

By waiving their intellectual property rights during the crisis to support processes for diagnosing, preventing, containing and treating the virus, the time-consuming analysis of intellectual property rights becomes as unnecessary as licensing negotiations. This significantly speeds up research and development processes.

At the invitation of Professor Fumihiko Matsuda from the University of Kyoto and Canon, numerous industrial organizations and institutions with a significant patent portfolio have joined the declaration.

In other news, Canon Inc. annonced its President & COO, Masaya Maeda, has retired from his current position due to health reasons and assumed the position of Chief Technology Advisor. Fujio Mitarai, the company’s Chairman & CEO, has assumed the function of President & COO in addition to his current position.