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IFI Patent Intelligence Announces 2007’s Top U.S. Patent Assignees
Total patent grants down from 2006 as U.S. Patent Office continues to chip away backlog of 1.1 million patents
WILMINGTON, Del., (Jan. 14, 2008) — IFI Patent Intelligence, a Wolters Kluwer Health business, today 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 14 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.
“While
2007 didn’t bring any marked improvements in terms of reducing
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.
A list of 2007’s Top 35 performers as compiled by IFI follows:
Rank
Company Name
2007 Patents
1
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP
3148
2
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD KR
2725
3
CANON K K JP
1987
4
MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO LTD JP
1941
5
INTEL CORP
1865
6
MICROSOFT CORP
1637
7
TOSHIBA CORP JP
1549
8
SONY CORP JP
1481
9
MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC
1476
10
HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT CO L P
1470**
11
HITACHI LTD JP
1397
12
FUJITSU LTD JP
1315
13
SEIKO EPSON CORP JP
1208
14
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO
914
15
INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AG DE
856
16
DENSO CORP JP
803
17
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC
752
18
RICOH CO LTD JP
728
19
HONDA MOTOR CO LTD JP
719
20
SIEMENS AG DE
700
21
LG ELECTRONICS INC
KR
684
22
NOKIA AB OY FI
682
23
SHARP K K JP
667
24
FUJIFILM CORP JP
662
25
NEC CORP JP
617
26
SUN
MICROSYSTEMS INC
610
27
CISCO
TECHNOLOGY INC
582
28
BOSCH,
ROBERT GMBH DE
569
29
KONINKLIJKE
PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N V NL
560
30
HONEYWELL
INTERNATIONAL INC
539
31
BROADCOM
CORP
533
SILVERBROOK
RESEARCH PTY LTD AU
533
33
XEROX
CORP
517
RENESAS
TECHNOLOGY CORP JP
517
35
EASTMAN
KODAK CO
493
** total includes 4 patents issued to Hewlett-Packard Co
IFI compiles its listing from original USPTO data using the powerful indexing and standardization algorithms of CLAIMS®, the most reliable, text-searchable database of U.S. patents in the world. The collection of CLAIMS® databases makes searching for patent data accurate and efficient. CLAIMS® is available via ThomsonDialog, STN International and Questel.
For more than 50 years, IFI has been the preeminent producer of patent databases. Complete information on more than 1,700 companies worldwide that received 10 or more U.S. patents in 2007 will be published in IFI’s Patent Intelligence and Technology Report, available in May. IFI produces monthly electronic updates of the report that monitor current patenting activity throughout the year. For ordering information, contact IFI at 800-331-4955 or visit www.ificlaims.com.
EDITORS: For analysis, factoids, market sector breakdowns or to set an interview with Darlene Slaughter, please contact Tom Kivett at 212-727-2935 or via email at tkivett@kivettandco.com.
About IFI Patent Intelligence
For more than 50 years, IFI Patent Intelligence (Wilmington, DE), a Wolters Kluwer Health business, has been the preeminent producer of enhanced U.S patent databases. From the most rigorous U.S. assignee name standardization process in the industry, to continual class code updates, and comprehensive indexing for chemical patents — IFI has built a solid reputation in patent databases. For more information, visit IFIclaims.com or call 800-331-4955 or 302-633-7200, or contact info@ificlaims.com.
About Wolters Kluwer Health
Wolters Kluwer Health (Conshohocken, PA), a division of Wolters Kluwer, is a leading provider of information for professionals and students in medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry. Major brands include traditional publishers of medical and drug reference tools and textbooks, such as Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and Facts & Comparisons; electronic information providers, such as Ovid Technologies, Medi-Span and ProVation; and pharmaceutical information providers Adis International and Source®. For more information, visit WKHealth.com.
About Wolters Kluwer
Wolters Kluwer is a leading global information services and publishing company. The company provides products and services for professionals in the health, tax, accounting, corporate, financial services, legal and regulatory sectors. Wolters Kluwer has annual revenues (2006) of €3.4 billion, employs approximately 18,450 people worldwide, and maintains operations across Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Its shares are quoted on the Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. For more information, visit www.wolterskluwer.com.
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