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 |
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)