At SEGA SAMMY, I am able to do 150% of what I wanted to do before I changed jobs.

After graduating from university and entering the workforce, I obtained my patent attorney license and joined a patent firm where I worked for about 10 years. After that, I decided I wanted to work more closely in development, so I changed jobs to SEGA SAMMY Holdings where I feel that I am able to do about 150% of the work that I originally wanted to experience. For a patent attorney who deals with intellectual property, it is an attractive environment to be involved in a wide range of work such as trademarks for game titles, character licensing, copyright work, and overseas development.

Within the Intellectual Property Department, I am in charge of trademarks and designs. I listen to the development side from the initial stage of creating a new product, and once development has progressed to a certain extent, I investigate trademarks and designs to see if the game title or design infringes on the rights of another company. If we can change something, we change it. If we don’t want to change something, we negotiate with the other company to let us use their rights. The interesting thing about this job is that we can get involved in the business from a deep level to realize the objectives of the development and the business divisions.

The “headquarters” that protects the intellectual property of all group companies.

Our motto is “to be a business partner” and we value the attitude of working together to deal with issues as our own, not as someone else’s. We think about how and to what extent we can achieve the objectives of the development and the business divisions. Since these policies are clearly stated through the mission pyramid, it is easy for us to proceed with our work.

The Intellectual Property Department is responsible for protecting the intellectual property of the entire group, and I find it very rewarding to know that we are the headquarters for the group companies, especially those overseas such as SEGA Europe Limited and SEGA of America, Inc. We are in charge of the trademark rights for overseas studios that develop games. We want to protect this brand! We also take care of legal procedures such as filing objections and invalidation trials for the rights that other companies are trying to acquire. At times, we even fight to protect our rights. I think this assertive stance and the ability to speak out is a characteristic of the Intellectual Property Department of SEGA SAMMY Holdings and a major strength of the company.

I grew up interacting with people, and both childcare and work became much easier.

One thing that has changed for me since I moved on to a new job is that I now have a wider range of work to do, so I have to obtain information on my own more often, and I have more relationships with various departments and group companies. I think I have developed my coordination and negotiation skills in this process. In the future, I would like to build more relationships within the company, deepen my understanding of the business of other departments, and gain a bird’s eye view of SEGA SAMMY Holdings.

In terms of my working style, it has become much easier for me to raise my children and work at the same time. We have a hybrid work system of coming to the office and working from home so I sometimes use the telecommuting system to leave work to attend my child’s school events and then resume my work at home. Also, now that we have a flextime system, I can adjust my working hours according to my workload. It is very easy to work in an environment where this kind of flexible work style is accepted as a matter of course.

Message to students and those who want to join our company

As an entertainment company, SEGA SAMMY Holdings places importance on the “emotional experience,” and everyone works with a sense of determination, enjoying things to the fullest and doing what needs to be done. There is no atmosphere of just putting on a show, and upper management projects a sense of urgency in getting right down to business. Therefore, I think this is a good company for people who want to grow and move forward with what they want to do.