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 10 patent owners (grants + pending applications) across three key auto-related technology areas

Rank

Connected car patents

Electric vehicle patents

Self-driving vehicle patents

1

General Motors (787)

Toyota (2,075)

Google (201)

2

Qualcomm (633)

Ford (1,431)

Ford (106)

3

Ford (359)

Hyundai (1,167)

General Motors (96)

4

Denso (312)

General Motors (994)

Honeywell (72)

5

LG (289)

LG (772)

Lockheed (69)

6

Samsung (280)

Samsung (754)

Boeing (69)

7

Micron (280)

Honda (693)

Toyota (60)

8

Intel (278)

Hitachi (638)

US Navy (55)

9

IBM (244)

Nissan (597)

iRobot Corp (51)

10

AT&T ( 243)

Panasonic (515)

Honda (42)

Source: 3LP Advisors and Thomson Innovation

Table 2. Top 10 inter partes review petitioners through the end of 2015

Rank

Company

Number of petitions

1

Apple

255

2

Samsung Electronics

155

3

Google

125

4

LG Electronics

101

5

Microsoft

80

6

Toshiba

71

7

The Gillette Company

60

8

TRW Automotive

53

9

HTC

49

10

Oracle

46

10

Intel

46

10

Toyota Motor

46

Source: NGB IP Research Institute, Lex Machina

Table 3. Stock performance of selected publicly traded IP-centric companies, March-May 2016

Source: Google Finance

Tables 4a and 4b show the entities with the highest volume of inbound patent assignment transactions (assignee table) and outbound 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 March and April 2016.

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 4a. Top 30 patent assignees by number of transactions, March-April 2016

#

Assignee entity

Number of assignments transacted

1

National Science Foundation

137

2

International Business Machines Corporation

94

3

Infineon Technologies Americas Corp.

84

4

Qualcomm Incorporated

75

5

Robert Bosch GmbH

74

6

Dow Global Technologies LLC

74

7

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

73

8

AT&T Corp.

73

9

Intel Corporation

70

10

Microsoft Corporation

63

11

Nuvasive, Inc.

60

12

The Regents Of The University Of California

57

13

Sony Corporation

57

14

Depuy Synthes Products, Inc.

53

15

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

48

16

Adobe Systems Incorporated

48

17

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

47

18

Google Inc.

46

19

Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC

45

20

Deka Products Limited Partnership

44

21

National Institutes Of Health - Director Deitr

43

22

Schlumberger Technology Corporation

40

23

Applied Biosystems, LLC

40

24

The Dow Chemical Company

38

25

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

37

26

Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.

33

27

Dow Agrosciences LLC

32

28

Nokia Technologies Oy

31

29

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

30

30

Novartis Pharma AG

30

Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)

Table 4b. Top 30 patent assignors by number of transactions, March-April 2016

#

Assignor entity

Number of assignments transacted

1

The Regents Of The University Of California

57

2

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

30

3

Stats Chippac Ltd.

25

4

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

24

5

Nxp B.V.

21

6

Han, Kyung Soo

20

7

Kim, Brian S.

16

8

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.

14

9

University Of Utah

13

10

Silicon Valley Bank

13

11

Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, As Agent

12

12

Wagic, Inc.

12

13

University Of California

12

14

Sharp Laboratories Of America, Inc.

12

15

Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc.

12

16

Bank Of America, N.A., As Collateral Agent

12

17

University Of Rochester

11

18

Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.

11

19

JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., As Collateral Agent

11

20

Wells Fargo Bank, National Association

10

21

Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

10

22

Harvard University

10

23

Bank Of America, N.A., As Administrative Agent

10

24

Thomson Reuters (Markets) LLC

9

25

Sony Mobile Communications Inc.

9

26

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

8

27

Kandula, Mahesh

8

28

Golden, Stephen J.

8

29

Ur, Shmuel

7

30

University Of Texas, Austin

7

Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)

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