MSG産業における池田特許の有効性と味の素社の事業展開

抄録

Dr. Kikunae Ikeda discovered the “Umami” taste associated with glutamate. He then

went on to apply for a patent for a method of manufacturing a seasoning based on the

“Umami” taste associated with foods high in glutamate. Fortunately this patent has turned

out to have an uncommon high availability, making it possible for Ajinomoto Company to

establish and maintain a large new global enterprise.

Up to this present day, many technically outstanding patents have failed to succeed in

becoming the base of new businesses, even though these inventions and their patents

have been recognized and appreciated as representing useful technical novelties.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the reasons that Dr. Ikeda’s patent achieved this

rare high availability over a long period. First, I examined the details and the nature of the

discovery of “Umami”, took a close look at the novelty, the technical uniqueness and the

deficits of his patent, and then, in the light of these considerations, investigated the reasons

for this success, by applying the NASA’s 3 step model developed to analyze barriers

to industry development. In 2003, NASA in U.S.A. released a plan development model.

This model identifies three barriers that need to be overcome during the course of successful

development. These are 1st: “the Devil River” R & D barrier, 2nd: “the Valley of

Death” barrier to getting a business started, and 3rd: “the Darwinian Sea” barrier to successful

competition in the market.

It is found that even though Dr. Ikeda’s patent had some deficits related to “the Devil

River” barrier step, which allowed developers in the U.S.A. to get a foothold in the monosodium

glutamate industry in U.S.A., it also contained strong elements to combat “the Valley

of Death” barrier, and so it was able to hold back the emergence of most competitors in

this industry for a long time.

Even though it may be difficult to place such a strong defense against “The Valley of

Death” barrier in many patents, this finding does surely provide some new suggestions

about how to launch highly available inventions and patents in the future.