In order to help end the spread of the coronavirus Canon has joined the COVID-19 Countermeasure Declaration as a founding member. According to this declaration, members pledge not to enforce intellectual property rights against development, manufacturing and other activities whose purpose is stopping the spread of COVID-19.

Eliminating the need for complicated, time-consuming analysis of intellectual property rights of the declarers and license negotiations for such intellectual property rights, this declaration clears the way for the fastest possible means of research, development and manufacture of the most effective tools to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Several major organisations and companies have joined the declaration in response to the invitation by Professor Fumihiko Matsuda of Kyoto University, including Canon, Honda, Konica Minolta, Nikon, Nissan and Toyota. The founding members of the declaration welcome other intellectual property rights owners to join them</i> and further contribute to the goal of halt the spread of COVID-19.