Intellectual Ventures, LG, Nokia and Samsung among 2015's most active patent dealmakers
Yesterday, we published data provided by ktMINE outlining the leading assignors and assignees of US patent assets last year, in terms of the number of assets assigned.
Today, as a follow-up, we present the 2015 data covering the most prolific assignors and assignees in terms of the number of assignments they have transacted. The key point here is that a single assignment can include anywhere from one patent to thousands of assets. As such, figures relating to whole assignments, rather than to the number of patents that have been assigned, can potentially give us more insight into which companies are most active in terms of doing deals. (For example, in yesterday’s blog, Freescale Semiconductor was revealed as the top assignee by number of patents assigned, although most if not all of these 26,002 were transferred in a single transaction after Citibank released its security interest in them in preparation for the chipmaker’s merger with the Netherlands’ NXP Semiconductors.)
That said, as you can see in the tables below, the company names that appear among the top assignees by assignments correspond closely with top US patent applicant and grantee lists. This probably reflects their high number of original assignments which each consist of a single patent asset.
Beyond these, ktMINE analyst Megan Rourke has pointed out a few interesting trends. Nokia Corporation tops the assignor list with 409 discrete assignments during last year. According to Rourke, this is likely to reflect the company’s movement of a large portion of its US patent portfolio to its new Finland-based, R&D and IP monetisation-focused subsidiary Nokia Technologies Oy. In fourth place on the same table, South Korea’s Samsung Electro-Mechanics assigned a large number of patents to recently spun-off company SoluM. Fifth-ranked Searete LLC – well-documented as an Intellectual Ventures affiliate – made most of its assignments to the patent firm’s Innovation Science Fund. The 12th most prolific assignor of US patent assets in 2015 appears to have been an individual named Hanbyul Seo, who Rourke identifies as an inventor for South Korea’s LG Group.
Top 50 assignees of US patents by number of assignments transacted 2015
# | Name | Number of assignments transacted |
1 | CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA | 3310 |
2 | INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION | 2824 |
3 | SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. | 2511 |
4 | NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH), U.S. DEPT. OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (DHHS), U.S. GOVERNMENT | 2235 |
5 | NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION | 1464 |
6 | TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA | 1441 |
7 | LG ELECTRONICS INC. | 1332 |
8 | SONY CORPORATION | 1276 |
9 | QUALCOMM INCORPORATED | 1203 |
10 | SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT | 1137 |
11 | KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA | 1124 |
12 | PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD. | 1091 |
13 | FUJITSU LIMITED | 1042 |
14 | ROBERT BOSCH GMBH | 995 |
15 | HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. | 987 |
16 | TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET L M ERICSSON (PUBL) | 977 |
17 | SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION | 959 |
18 | MICROSOFT CORPORATION | 813 |
19 | INTEL CORPORATION | 807 |
20 | GOOGLE INC. | 768 |
21 | FUJIFILM CORPORATION | 756 |
22 | SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA | 749 |
23 | NEC CORPORATION | 743 |
24 | MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION | 734 |
25 | ZTE CORPORATION | 687 |
26 | KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V. | 676 |
27 | DENSO CORPORATION | 666 |
28 | HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P. | 659 |
29 | THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA | 590 |
30 | TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED | 571 |
31 | UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION | 546 |
32 | JAPAN DISPLAY INC. | 534 |
33 | DOW GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES LLC | 528 |
34 | ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE | 517 |
35 | RICOH COMPANY, LTD. | 511 |
36 | APPLE INC. | 508 |
37 | EBAY INC. | 472 |
38 | SAMSUNG DISPLAY CO., LTD. | 468 |
39 | MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC | 463 |
40 | BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA | 457 |
41 | NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY | 454 |
42 | HITACHI, LTD. | 445 |
43 | BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD. | 442 |
44 | HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD. | 430 |
45 | COVIDIEN LP | 426 |
46 | AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P. | 406 |
47 | ENERGY, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF | 404 |
48 | SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD. | 404 |
49 | NOKIA CORPORATION | 401 |
50 | LG CHEM, LTD. | 397 |
Top 50 assignors of US patents by number of assignments transacted 2015
# | Name | Number of assignments transacted |
1 | NOKIA CORPORATION | 409 |
2 | UNIVERSITY OF UTAH | 236 |
3 | HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD. | 213 |
4 | SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS CO., LTD | 157 |
5 | SEARETE LLC | 153 |
6 | TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC. | 140 |
7 | MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | 135 |
8 | SCIENBIZIP CONSULTING(SHENZHEN)CO.,LTD. | 131 |
9 | MOLEX INCORPORATED | 119 |
10 | SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT INC. | 119 |
11 | UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA | 112 |
12 | SEO, HANBYUL | 108 |
13 | MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL | 106 |
14 | BANK OF AMERICA, N.A. | 103 |
15 | SCHAEFFLER TECHNOLOGIES GMBH & CO. KG | 101 |
16 | SONY MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS AB | 96 |
17 | HONG FU JIN PRECISION INDUSTRY (SHENZHEN) CO., LTD. | 91 |
18 | GENERAL ELECTRIC CAPITAL CORPORATION | 87 |
19 | GENERAL ELECTRIC CAPITAL CORPORATION, AS RETIRING AGENT | 86 |
20 | PRINCETON UNIVERSITY | 85 |
21 | MARVELL WORLD TRADE LTD. | 81 |
22 | STANFORD UNIVERSITY | 81 |
23 | UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN | 81 |
24 | LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL SECURITY | 80 |
25 | BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL | 77 |
26 | SONICWALL L.L.C. | 77 |
27 | OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY | 75 |
28 | SIEMENS CORPORATION | 73 |
29 | KIM, KIJUN | 72 |
30 | LEE, YOUNGDAE | 72 |
31 | JUNG, SUNGHOON | 71 |
32 | CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | 69 |
33 | YI, YUNJUNG | 68 |
34 | SHARP LABORATORIES OF AMERICA, INC. | 66 |
35 | HARVARD UNIVERSITY | 65 |
36 | SILICON VALLEY BANK | 65 |
37 | COOK INCORPORATED | 64 |
38 | AHN, JOONKUI | 63 |
39 | FUJIOKA, ROBB | 63 |
40 | ALTRIA CLIENT SERVICES INC. | 62 |
41 | GAAL, PETER | 62 |
42 | UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES | 62 |
43 | ALTRIA CLIENT SERVICES LLC | 61 |
44 | YI, SEUNGJUNE | 60 |
45 | SLOAN-KETTERING INST CAN RESEARCH | 59 |
46 | EMORY UNIVERSITY | 57 |
47 | JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A. | 57 |
48 | SHELTON, FREDERICK E., IV | 57 |
49 | SPANSION, LLC | 57 |
50 | CITIBANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT | 55 |