Client Spotlight: Sony

About The Company

If you are a consumer in the digital age, chances are you’ve owned and/or operated quite a few Sony products over the last couple of decades. Since its founding in 1946, Sony has become a major technology company, uniquely operating as one of the world’s largest manufacturers of leading-edge consumer and professional products. From movies and music to video games and electronics – Sony is a household name.

Beginning in the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo, founder Masaru Ibuka started a small company with capital of just 190,000 yen (approximately $140 USD) which aimed to “establish an ideal factory that stresses a spirit of freedom and open mindedness that will, through technology, contribute to Japanese culture.” Eventually creating many of “Japan’s firsts” and “world’s firsts” products, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) became named Sony Corporation in 1958.

Today, Sony Group Corporation is the parent company of the Sony Group, which includes Sony Corporation (the historic electronics company), Sony Semiconductor Solutions, Sony Entertainment (Sony Pictures, Sony Music), Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation®), and Sony Financial Group.

Now valued at up to $101.72 billion, Sony is still disrupting the industry. Their most recent mission? A joint venture with Honda to create a unique electric vehicle that leverages Sony’s expertise in AI, entertainment, and AR/VR, as well as becoming the first major Japanese electronics company to move toward cutting out plastic from its packaging, set to eliminate it altogether in newly-designed small products by 2025.

Wolf Greenfield & Sony

As a multinational corporation and leading manufacturer of electronics across the globe, Sony has quite the diverse intellectual property portfolio. We are proud to have been entrusted by Sony in handling patent procurement and portfolio management for two decades. Sony also looks to us for guidance on risk avoidance and strategic patent counseling, such as freedom to operate advice. In addition, Sony looks to us to defend it in US patent disputes, regularly representing Sony in patent litigation and IPR matters, which we take very seriously and on which we have proudly obtained strong results for Sony.

Straight From The Team

Wolf Greenfield has leveraged their technical expertise, patent litigation experience at the district court level and US International Trade Commission, and longstanding practice in front of the USPTO to provide guidance and counsel to Sony across a wide range of IP matters for a number of years. They are a trusted and respected partner and we value our relationship with them.

Peter Toto

Senior Vice President, Intellectual Property, Sony Corporation of America

Sony is a longstanding and very important client and partner of Wolf Greenfield. I and others at Wolf Greenfield personally value greatly the relationships we have built with the Sony team over the years. We have tremendous respect for them, enjoy working with them, and are proud of the work we do together.

Randy J. Pritzker

Co-chair, Electrical & Computer Technologies Practice, Wolf Greenfield