2017 Patent Trends and Insights

A record number of patents were granted by the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2017. Asia continues to be a strong player.

Roll over the charts below to interactively browse the data.

Many leading companies from 2016 continued to dominate in 2017. Facebook and BOE Technology Group made large gains.

The automotive sector is rapidly developing new technologies, including patents in areas such as unmanned vehicle navigation and advanced manufacturing technology. The computing, telecommunications, and medical patent classifications continue to be strong.
2017 Rank CPC 2017 2016 Change Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) Code Definition
1 G06F 48935 47919 2.12%
ELECTRICAL DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
Top Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Example: US-9811287-B2
2 H04L 33575 31414 6.88%
TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
Top Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Example: US-9811241-B2
3 H01L 26989 26741 0.93%
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
Top Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) Ltd
Example: US-9812577-B2
4 H04W 21258 19390 9.63%
WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS
Top Assignee: LG Electronics Inc
Example: US-9813957-B2
5 H04N 17996 17169 4.82%
6 A61B 13853 12640 9.60%
DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
Top Assignee: Covidien LP
Example: US-9788755-B2
7 A61K 13624 12670 7.53%
PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL, OR TOILET PURPOSES
Top Assignee: University of California
Example: US-9782399-B2
8 G06Q 11020 9374 17.56%
9 G01N 10070 9277 8.55%
10 G02B 10060 9069 10.93%
Notes:

Related content

  • Top 50 list: view a list of the top 50 assignees from 2017.
  • Top 1000 list: view an expanded version of the top 50 list with each assignee's 5-year history. Login or registration required.
  • How we do it: learn how our data production process results in the highest quality patent data available.
  • Fast growing technologies: see what kinds of patents have the most compound growth.
  • Live 1000 Patent Ranking: create your own views of the top 1000 assignees from 2018. Login or registration required.