We are determined to keep at it, and recently managed to obtain a Japanese patent that we filed 12 years ago.

Some Japanese patents have been cited 100 or more times in derivative patents.

The report, prepared for the science foundation, concluded that the Japanese patents were "at the leading edge of modern developments in technology."

A published, unexamined Japanese patent application.

An examined and approved Japanese patent application.

This gap between American and Japanese patents is growing.

In some cases, they are demanding that Korean companies pay royalties for use of Japanese patents.

In addition, the agency files European and Japanese patents and keeps a growing library of technical journals.

The company had fought for 29 years to win a Japanese patent on Mr. Kilby's invention.

The Japanese patent on the Kilby chip design expires in 2001.