[Article / Patents] IP and intangible assets in the food industry (Kenjiro Fujiwara, Patent, September 2025)
Updated: Oct 15
Article information
Article type: Publication review
Categories: Patents
Main topics: IP management
First published on this website: October 1, 2026
Display and classification checked: October 1, 2026 (not a revalidation of the legal analysis)
[Article / Patents] IP and intangible assets in the food industry (Kenjiro Fujiwara, Patent, September 2025)
1. IP strategies in the food industry differ greatly according to the industry's role (upstream, midstream or downstream).
2. Issues distinctive to food
The food industry faces difficulties arising from history and sensory perception that differ from other technological fields.
Long history and regionality: This industry dates back to the beginning of recorded history and has pronounced regional differences, making worldwide public knowledge difficult to ascertain.
The complex system of flavour (difficulty of digitization): Food is not a pure substance but a complex composition changing over time. Objective verification of flavour, intertwining taste, texture and smell, is extremely difficult. Consequently, there is a structure that inevitably relies on skills (know-how) that cannot be verbalized.
Monopoly does not necessarily maximize profits: Similar products following a new product can increase the market's overall eating experience and consequently expand the market.
3. Using know-how and intangible assets
In food, know-how management is the key to continuing business even after patents expire.
Manufacturing know-how: How to control raw-material variability and guarantee quality standards.
Brand stories: Turn trust and stories into intangible assets, as with Mishima Foods' response to an aonori shortage or Sapporo Beer's use of place names.
Passing on technology (skills): Give up verbalization and pass it on as embodied experience through training and apprenticeship.
Identification know-how: Incorporate uses and attachments spontaneously generated by consumers into brand control.
Original article: https://lnkd.in/gi8qju47
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October 1, 2026: First publication of the author's original LinkedIn text on this website. Article type, categories, topic tags, sources and consultation navigation added.
2026-10-01 | Display maintenance: added case references stated in the original or language-alternate metadata; not a revalidation of legal analysis.
2026-10-01 | Name notation: applied the Roman-letter personal-name spellings supplied by Hideki Takaishi to this English article and its navigation. No change to legal analysis or original publication date.
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