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IFI Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
IFI CLAIMS® COMPILES LIST OF YEAR'S TOP PATENT WINNERS
IBM Tops List for 12th straight year;
2004 represents first decline in total
U.S.
patents issued since 1995
WILMINGTON,
Del.
, Jan. 11, 2005 -- IFI CLAIMS® Patent Services, part of
Wolters
Kluwer
Health, today issued its annual compilation of top patent winners for 2004. IBM
Corporation once again was at the top of the list, leading all
organizations receiving
U.S.
patents. With 3,277 patents granted, IBM was awarded 1,312 more patents than
the number two ranked company, Matsushita Electric Industrial Company of
Japan
, which came in with 1,965. IBM has maintained this
leading position for an unprecedented 12 consecutive years and no other single
company has surpassed the 2,000 patents per year mark.
For the first time since 1995, total
U.S.
patents issued have declined. In 2004, a total of 164,402 were issued, down 2.7
percent from 2003.
U.S.
organizations led all industries with 23 of the top 50 slots followed by
Japanese based organizations in the number two position holding down 16 of the
top 50 slots.
“Until this year, there have been increasing numbers of total U.S. patents
issued each year since 1995”, said Darlene Slaughter, general manager of IFI
CLAIMS® Patent Services. “These results reflect the number of patents granted
this year, not the number of new applications filed. Next year’s numbers will
give a better indication of whether this is the beginning of a downward trend.”
Technology companies continue to be strong and lead the top-50 list. In addition
to IBM, top-30 U.S.-based performers include HP, Micron Technology, Intel,
General Electric,
Texas
Instruments, Advanced Micro Devices, Kodak, Sun,
Agilent, Microsoft, and Motorola.
Other big movers at the top include
Korea
’s Samsung which posted a 22 percent increase over
2003 and Japanese newcomer
Renesas Technology Corp., which made its debut on the
top-50 list at number 15.
In 2004, the biotech leader was The University of California, which led
the category in the number 42 position overall with 447 patents. Other top
biotech contenders included
Applera Corp.,
Degussa
,
U.S.
Government Health and Human Services, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals.
Biotechnology continues to spawn new patents from companies, government and
academia. Since 1994, the total number of biotech patents has nearly doubled.
Although all patent information is public domain, the powerful indexing
algorithms and search tools available using the CLAIMS® database make searching
for patent data infinitely more efficient and accurate. The collection of
databases known as CLAIMS® represents the most reliable, text-searchable and
value-added databases of
U.S.
patents in the world. IFI CLAIMS® databases are available on Dialog, STN
International and
Questel●Orbit.
Complete information on over 1,800 companies worldwide which received 10 or more
U.S.
patents in 2004 will be published in
IFI’s
Patent Intelligence and Technology Report, available in May. IFI
produces monthly electronic updates of the Patent Intelligence and Technology
Report which monitor current patenting activity throughout the year.
Customers can order the report by contacting
Rick
Myrick
at: 800-331-4955.
For the past 50 years, IFI has built a solid reputation as the preeminent
producer of patent databases. A list of the top-50 performers compiled by IFI
using its CLAIMS® database follows. Subsidiaries are listed and counted
separately for this report.
IFI CLAIMS® PATENT SERVICES
2004 List of Top Patent Winners
|
Rank
|
Company
|
No. Pats.
|
|
1
|
INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS MACHINES CORP
|
3,277
|
|
2
|
MATSUSHITA
ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO LTD JP
|
1,965
|
|
3
|
CANON
K K JP
|
1,813
|
|
4
|
HEWLETT-PACKARD
DEVELOPMENT CO L P *
|
1,780
|
|
5
|
MICRON
TECHNOLOGY INC
|
1,761
|
|
6
|
SAMSUNG
ELECTRONICS CO LTD KR
|
1,605
|
|
7
|
INTEL
CORP
|
1,604
|
|
8
|
HITACHI
LTD JP
|
1,534
|
|
9
|
SONY
CORP JP **
|
1,348
|
|
10
|
TOSHIBA
CORP JP
|
1,342
|
|
11
|
FUJITSU
LTD JP
|
1,320
|
|
12
|
KONINKLIJKE
PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N V NL
|
1,224
|
|
13
|
FUJI
PHOTO FILM CO LTD JP
|
1,030
|
|
14
|
GENERAL
ELECTRIC CO
|
978
|
|
15
|
RENESAS
TECHNOLOGY CORP JP
|
917
|
|
16
|
TEXAS
INSTRUMENTS INC
|
915
|
|
17
|
BOSCH,
ROBERT GMBH DE
|
907
|
|
18
|
SEIKO
EPSON CORP JP
|
859
|
|
19
|
NEC
CORP JP
|
826
|
|
20
|
ADVANCED
MICRO DEVICES INC
|
803
|
|
21
|
INFINEON
TECHNOLOGIES AG DE
|
799
|
|
22
|
MITSUBISHI DENKI K K JP
|
793
|
|
23
|
HONDA
MOTOR CO LTD JP
|
778
|
|
24
|
SIEMENS
AG DE
|
743
|
|
25
|
EASTMAN
KODAK CO
|
714
|
|
26
|
DENSO
CORP JP
|
691
|
|
27
|
SUN
MICROSYSTEMS INC
|
679
|
|
28
|
AGILENT
TECHNOLOGIES INC
|
651
|
|
29
|
MICROSOFT
CORP
|
629
|
|
30
|
MOTOROLA
INC
|
567
|
|
31
|
DELPHI
TECHNOLOGIES INC
|
552
|
|
32
|
SHARP
K K JP
|
551
|
|
33
|
LUCENT
TECHNOLOGIES INC
|
546
|
|
34
|
HONEYWELL
INTERNATIONAL INC
|
536
|
|
35
|
RICOH
CO LTD JP
|
530
|
|
36
|
3M
INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES CO
|
529
|
|
37
|
XEROX
CORP
|
518
|
|
38
|
NORTEL
NETWORKS LTD CA
|
498
|
|
39
|
HON
HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO LTD TW
|
486
|
|
40
|
LG
ELECTRONICS INC KR
|
481
|
|
41
|
TAIWAN
SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO TW
|
463
|
|
42
|
CALIFORNIA
, UNIVERSITY
OF REGENTS
|
447
|
|
43
|
HYNIX
SEMICONDUCTOR INC KR
|
443
|
|
44
|
CISCO
TECHNOLOGY INC
|
433
|
|
45
|
SEAGATE
TECHNOLOGY LLC
|
431
|
|
46
|
BOEING
CO THE
|
422
|
|
47
|
PROCTOR
& GAMBLE CO THE
|
400
|
|
48
|
TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET L M ERICSSON SE
|
390
|
|
49
|
SANYO
ELECTRIC CO LTD JP
|
388
|
|
50
|
LSI
LOGIC CORP
|
378
|
|
|
GENERAL
MOTORS CORP
|
378
|
*Includes 17 patents issued to Hewlett-Packard Co. and 2 patents issued to
Compaq Computer Co.
**Includes 9 patents issued as unassigned but which have C/O Sony Corp. in
inventor address
***All counts exclude design and plant patents
SOURCE:
IFI CLAIMS® Patent Services using the CLAIMS® patent Database.
For more information on the Patent Intelligence and Technology Report, visit our
web site at ificlaims.com
and wkhealth.com.
###
About
Wolters
Kluwer
Health
Based in
Wilmington, Delaware,
IFI CLAIMS® is part of the
Wolters
Kluwer
Health Pharma Solutions division. The division provides information and
communications support for the pharmaceutical industry, from drug discovery and
research to launch and marketing under the industry’s leading medical
information brands,
Adis
International, IFI Claims and
Lippincott
Williams & Wilkins.
Wolters
Kluwer
Health is a unit of
WoltersKluwer
nv, a leading multinational publisher and
information services company with annual revenues (2003) of €3.4 billion and
employing approximately 18,750 people worldwide.
Wolters
Kluwer
is headquartered in
Amsterdam, the
Netherlands
. Its depositary receipts of shares are quoted on the
Euronext
Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and
Euronext
100 indices.
For more information, visit
ificlaims.com
and wkhealth.com.
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