2008 Corporate Patent Scorecard

IFI Patent Intelligence, a Wolters Kluwer Health business, announced its annual compilation of the world’s top-ranked U.S. patent winners. Employing proprietary authority lists and algorithms to enhance the speed and accuracy of the culling process, IFI’s analysts ranked organizations with the most patents awarded in 2007.  The top 35 organizations are posted on its website, www.ificlaims.com.  A comprehensive analysis of U.S. patent ownership data for 2007 will be published in May and made available on the IFI website.

According to IFI’s analysis, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a total of 157,284 utility patents in 2007 — down 9.5 percent from 2006’s all-time high — at a time when the Patent Office is faced with a swelling backlog of patents pending.  The most recent USPTO annual report (www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/annual/2007) tallies the backlog to be 1,112,517 patents pending for fiscal year 2007.
 
This year, IBM Corp. continues to maintain the top slot, as it has for the previous 15 years, with 3,148 patents, down more than 500 grants from the previous year.  Samsung trails at number 2 with 2,725 patents, followed by Canon at number 3, Matsushita at number 4, and Intel at number 5.  Most of the top 25 companies attained fewer grants in 2007 than in 2006, with five exceptions including Samsung, up 11 percent over 2006; Microsoft, which jumped into the top 10 and saw an increase of nearly 12 percent; Denso Corp., up 4 percent; Nokia, up a respectable 14 percent with 85 more issues than last year; and Seiko Epson, up 2 patents.

U.S. organizations currently hold half of the slots on the top 10 list with Japan a close second.  However, looking at the top 25 list, U.S. companies hold 7 spots, less than a third of the positions, while Japan leads with 13; Germany with 2; South Korea with 2; and Finland with 1.  Semiconductors (4,187 patents in 2007); Active Solid State Devices (3,855) and Telecommunications (2,783) lead the individual patent class categories, but others are showing strength including Static Information Storage & Retrieval; Drugs and Biotechnology; Chemistry; and Radiant Energy.