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Rank
Company

# of Patents

1
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP
2,922
2
NEC CORP JP
2,034
3
CANON K K JP
1,897
4
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD KR
1,442
5
LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES INC
1,415
6
SONY CORP JP
1,394
7
MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC
1,306
8
TOSHIBA CORP JP
1,264
9
MOTOROLA INC
1,203
10
FUJITSU LTD JP
1,169
11
MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO LTD JP
1,150
12
ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES INC
1,055
13
HITACHI LTD JP
1,046
14
MITSUBISHI DENKI K K JP
1,037
15
SIEMENS AG DE
932
16
HEWLETT-PACKARD CO
904
17
EASTMAN KODAK CO
876
18
PHILIPS ELECTRONICS NORTH AMERICA CORP
839
19
INTEL CORP
797
20
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO
790
21
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC
692
22
SHARP K K JP
619
23
XEROX CORP
577
24
BOSCH, ROBERT GMBH DE
550
25
FUJI PHOTO FILM CO LTD JP
549
26
BASF AG DE
510
27
HONDA MOTOR CO LTD JP
489
28
3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES CO
488
29
PROCTER & GAMBLE CO THE
469
30
SUN MICROSYSTEMS INC
465
31
TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET L M ERICSSON SE
463
32
CALIFORNIA, UNIVERSITY OF REGENTS
459
33
NORTEL NETWORKS CORP CA
446
34
UNITED MICROELECTRONICS CORP TW
446
35
DENSO CORP JP
428
36
RICOH CO LTD JP
415
37
SEIKO EPSON CORP JP
408
38
HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO LTD TW
397
39
APPLIED MATERIALS INC
390
40
TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO TW
385
41
TOYOTA JIDOSHA KOGYO K K JP
377
42
U S OF AMERICA NAVY SECRETARY OF
362
43
CATERPILLAR INC
351
44
DU PONT DE NEMOURS, E I & CO
346
45
MICROSOFT CORP
344
46
MINOLTA CO LTD JP
333
47
DAIMLERCHRYSLER AG DE
330
48
LSI LOGIC CORP
325
49
BAYER AG DE
318
50
COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP
317
51
ERICSSON INC
312
52
YAZAKI CORP JP
306
53
MURATA MANUFACTURING CO LTD JP
302

List of Top 53 Companies by Rank for 2000
Ranked by number of patents
© IFI CLAIMS® Patent Services

For additional information contact:
Jim Brown
800-331-4955
info@ificlaims.com
IFI Press Release
January 10, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE            


Companies Receiving Most U.S. Patents in 2000


Wilmington, DE — Once again the top spot in US patents goes to IBM Corporation. Maintaining its leadership position in 2000, IBM Corporation received over 2,900 US patents or 43% more than the next company on the list — NEC Corporation of Japan — which received 2,034 patents according to the current edition of the Patent Intelligence and Technology Report (PITR).

The most significant changes in 2000 were made by Lucent Technologies, Inc. which moved from ninth position in 1999 to fifth position in 2000 and Micron Technology, Inc. which moved from 14th position in 1999 to seventh position in 2000. All counts in the PITR are based upon multiple assignment records of all US Utility and Statutory patents.

IBM Corporation received most of its patents for software related inventions and inventions in areas such as networked information processing, data storage and microelectronics. IBM currently receives more than US$1 Billion per year in royalties from its Intellectual Property portfolio. As previously quoted: "This income goes right to the bottom line".

During 2000, the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) issued a total of 158, 118 utility and SIR patents as compared to 154,594 patents in 1999. According to current projections, the PTO will issue more than 245,000 patents and published applications in 2001.

Complete information concerning over 1,650 worldwide companies that received 10 or more U.S. patents in 2000 will be found in the Patent Intelligence and Technology Report available in May from IFI CLAIMS® Patent Services, a division of Aspen Law & Business. To order this publication in May call 800-638-8437 or fax 800-901-9075.  A sample review issue of the PITR 2000 is available by faxing a request to M. Young at 212-597-0339.