IP-related statistics from the recent past
A selection of key IP facts and figures, as reported by IAM and other sources
Table 1. Top domestic invention patent recipients in China, 2017
Rank |
Patent owner |
Invention patents granted |
1 |
State Grid Corporation |
3,622 |
2 |
Huawei |
3,293 |
3 |
Sinopec |
2,567 |
4 |
BOE |
1,845 |
5 |
ZTE |
1,699 |
6 |
Lenovo |
1,454 |
7 |
Gree |
1,273 |
8 |
Oppo |
1,222 |
9 |
PetroChina |
1,008 |
10 |
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation |
862 |
Source: State Intellectual Property Office
Figure 1. PCT patent applications handled by SIPO increased by 12.5% year on year

Source: Google Finance
Table 2. Stock performance of selected publicly traded IP-centric companies, November 2017 to January 2018

Tables 3A and 3B show the entities with the highest volume of in-bound patent assignment transactions (assignee table) and out-bound patent assignment transactions (assignor table), as recorded at the US Patent and Trademark Office. These results are calculated by aggregating the number of transactions completed by an assignee/assignor in November and December 2017.
One transaction may include multiple patents, patent families and patent portfolios. Many companies create numerous holding vehicles to house their different IP portfolios; this is why similar company names may appear multiple times in the tables.
Table 3A. Top 30 patent assignees by number of transactions, November-December 2017
# |
Assignee entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
Thomson Reuters Global Resources Unlimited Company |
255 |
2 |
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. |
247 |
3 |
National Institutes Of Health (NHS), U.S. Dept. Of Health And Human Services (DHHS), U.S. Government |
171 |
4 |
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha |
107 |
5 |
LG Electronics Inc. |
74 |
6 |
National Science Foundation |
69 |
7 |
Dow Global Technologies LLC |
60 |
8 |
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha |
56 |
9 |
Pivot Medical, Inc. |
53 |
10 |
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. |
52 |
11 |
The Regents Of The University Of California |
49 |
12 |
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC |
45 |
13 |
Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. |
43 |
14 |
BASF SE |
43 |
15 |
Google Inc. |
43 |
16 |
Applied Materials, Inc. |
37 |
17 |
Microsoft Corporation |
37 |
18 |
International Business Machines Corporation |
37 |
19 |
Nike, Inc. |
36 |
20 |
Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. |
36 |
21 |
Centinel Spine LLC |
36 |
22 |
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology |
36 |
23 |
Compagnie Generale Des Etablissements Michelin |
35 |
24 |
Mann+Hummel GmbH |
34 |
25 |
National Institutes Of Health - Director DEITR |
33 |
26 |
Intel Corporation |
31 |
27 |
Koninklijke Philips N.V. |
29 |
28 |
RPX Corporation |
29 |
29 |
National Institutes Of Health - Director DEITR NIH |
27 |
30 |
ABB Schweiz AG |
25 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)
Table 3B. Top 30 patent assignors by number of transactions, November-December 2017
# |
Assignor entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
Johns Hopkins University |
81 |
2 |
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. |
38 |
3 |
Case Western Reserve University |
38 |
4 |
DePuy Synthes Products, Inc. |
27 |
5 |
University Of Utah |
16 |
6 |
MD Anderson Cancer Center |
15 |
7 |
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba |
15 |
8 |
Pardo, Fernando |
14 |
9 |
McGill, Alexandra |
14 |
10 |
Lampela, Martti Johannes |
14 |
11 |
Sugaya, Shunji |
11 |
12 |
Sharp Laboratories Of America, Inc. |
11 |
13 |
Dedic, Ian Juso |
11 |
14 |
Wells Fargo Bank, National Association |
11 |
15 |
Concert Debt, LLC |
11 |
16 |
Wang, Jian-Ping |
10 |
17 |
Upskill, Inc. |
10 |
18 |
RadiumOne, Inc. |
10 |
19 |
Kimree Hi-Tech Inc. |
10 |
20 |
Internet Brands, Inc. |
10 |
21 |
Chuang, Tim Dze-How |
10 |
22 |
NEC Europe Ltd. |
10 |
23 |
International Business Machines Corporation |
10 |
24 |
University Of Pennsylvania |
9 |
25 |
North Carolina State University, Raleigh |
9 |
26 |
HP Printing And Computing Solutions, S.L.U. |
9 |
27 |
DePuy Spine, LLC |
9 |
28 |
Wave Life Sciences Japan, Inc. |
9 |
29 |
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft |
9 |
30 |
Madison Capital Funding LLC |
9 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)