January 19, 2004
Innovation Powerhouse IBM Breaks U.S. Patent Record & Tops the USPTO List for 11th Consecutive Year
American technological competitiveness appears to be in good hands, despite six of the 10 top innovators being Asian rather than American. The 2003 preliminary patent results were reported a week ago by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. As you know, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the USPTO issues patents, administers the patent and trademark laws of the United States, and advises the administration on intellectual property policy.
IBM broke a record for the number of patents granted in a year with 3,415 in 2003 and the firm has led the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office annual list for the past 11 straight years, making it one tough act to follow.
IBM was far ahead of the number two firm, Canon, which had 1,893 last year. Companies that make IT products held all the top 10 spots; together, those firms acquired 18,121 patents. Besides IBM and Canon, the group includes Hitachi, Matsushita, Hewlett-Packard, Micron Technology, Intel, Philips, Samsung and Sony.
Making its debut on the top 10 list for 2003 was Intel, having jumped up from 15th place in 2002. The chip-maker landed in seventh place with 1,592 patents, compared with the No. 15 spot in 2002. Hewlett-Packard also made a notable rise, moving to the No. 5 position from No. 9 in 2002, recording 1,759 patents in 2003, 374 more than in the previous year.
Still, IBM is the "Innovation Powerhouse".
During the past eleven years, IBM innovations have generated more than 25,000 U.S. patents - nearly triple the total of any U.S. IT competitor during this time and surpassing the combined totals for Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Microsoft, Sun, Oracle, Intel, Apple, EMC, Accenture and EDS.
"IBM's commitment to research and development has driven more than a decade's worth of patent leadership and is a major factor in our emergence as the world's leading IT, services and consulting company," said Nick Donofrio, IBM senior vice president, technology and manufacturing. "That said, we consider patents a starting point on the path to true innovation. What differentiates IBM from other companies is our ability to rapidly apply these inventions to new products and offerings that solve the most pressing business challenges of our clients."
Meanwhile, some of the biggest innovators of years past that no longer appear in the Top 10 include American business titans like Xerox, Lucent, Motorola, Eastman Kodak and General Electric - all firms that have had their share of business problems recently. If you're as curious about prior years as I was, check out the list of Top 10 patent recipients since 1995 below - it's fascinating to see how standings can change so rapidly.
Notably, two Xerox Corporation scientists, Raj Patel and Robert Yu, were awarded their 100th U.S. patents last month. That rare accomplishment capped a year in which Xerox and its subsidiaries earned 628 U.S. utility patents on new materials, new technologies and new ways of processing documents, bringing its total U.S. patents earned to nearly 16,000 - a sum matched by only a handful of the nation's most creative companies.
- Arik
Posted by Arik Johnson at January 19, 2004 12:54 PM | TrackBack
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