The objective of such an approach is again to
maintain the company’s freedom of action in its core
field of activities. This idea of freedom of action is
one that is also found particularly among Japanese
electronics companies. A senior manager in a
Japanese large consumer electronics company expressed
a commonly held view when he said that his
company Aobtains Industrial Property in order to act freely (Interview, 8/7/1993). Where the US
company mentioned above developed something
which fell outside its core field of activities it would
be dealt with on a case by case basis since the
company would not benefit from any cross-licensing
but only from any licensing revenue obtainable
(Interview, 12/21/1993.). The interesting factor about
such arrangements is that they are publicised in
Japan and it is thus not too surprising that some of
the larger Japanese electronics companies have also
adopted such licensing practices.