IP-related statistics from the recent past
Table 1. Quietest months for US patent cases, 2012-2016
Month |
Cases filed |
January 2016 |
279 |
December 2015 |
280 |
February 2016 |
285 |
August 2015 |
311 |
September 2015 |
335 |
January 2014 |
336 |
September 2014 |
336 |
Source: Lex Machina
The monthly figure for new US patent lawsuit filings spiked to 845 last November ahead of new pleading standards which took effect on December 1 2015. The three months since then have been the quietest for new filings in the last four years.
Table 2. Top Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applicants of 2015, based on published applications
Rank |
Applicant |
Country |
Number of PCT applications |
Change from 2014 |
1 |
Huawei Technologies Co. LTD. |
China |
3,898 |
456 |
2 |
Qualcomm Incorporated |
United States |
2,442 |
33 |
3 |
ZTE Corporation |
China |
2,155 |
-24 |
4 |
Samsung Electronics Co., LTD. |
Republic of Korea |
1,683 |
302 |
5 |
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation |
Japan |
1,593 |
0 |
6 |
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ) |
Sweden |
1,481 |
-31 |
7 |
LG Electronics Inc. |
Republic of Korea |
1,457 |
319 |
8 |
Sony Corporation |
Japan |
1,381 |
399 |
9 |
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. |
Netherlands |
1,378 |
-13 |
10 |
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. |
United States |
1,310 |
484 |
Source: WIPO

Source: Google Finance
Tables 4A and 4Bshow 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 January and February 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.
# |
Assignee entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
Solum Co., Ltd |
162 |
2 |
Callahan Cellular L.L.C. |
141 |
3 |
National Institutes Of Health - Director Deitr |
90 |
4 |
Microsoft Corporation |
76 |
5 |
Intel Corporation |
71 |
6 |
Robert Bosch GmbH |
67 |
7 |
Ulsan National Institute Of Science And Technology |
67 |
8 |
Ol Security Limited Liability Company |
59 |
9 |
Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
58 |
10 |
F. Poszat Hu, L.L.C. |
54 |
11 |
The Regents Of The University Of California |
50 |
12 |
Dow Global Technologies LLC |
49 |
13 |
International Business Machines Corporation |
49 |
14 |
Sony Corporation |
46 |
15 |
Nokia Technologies Oy |
45 |
16 |
Google Inc. |
42 |
17 |
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. |
41 |
18 |
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha |
40 |
19 |
Xenogenic Development Limited Liability Company |
39 |
20 |
Gula Consulting Limited Liability Company |
37 |
21 |
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology |
36 |
22 |
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft |
36 |
23 |
Qualcomm Incorporated |
35 |
24 |
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. |
34 |
25 |
Research In Motion Limited |
34 |
26 |
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha |
34 |
27 |
Marvell International Ltd. |
33 |
28 |
Rex Medical, L.P. |
33 |
29 |
Skyworks Solutions, Inc. |
33 |
30 |
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. |
32 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)
# |
Assignor entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
Unist Academy-Industry Research Corporation |
67 |
2 |
University Of Rochester |
43 |
3 |
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. |
42 |
4 |
Bally Gaming, Inc. |
31 |
5 |
Sharp Laboratories Of America, Inc. |
29 |
6 |
Nissin Kogyo Co., Ltd. |
21 |
7 |
Bank Of America, N.A. |
14 |
8 |
Zlemma, Inc. |
13 |
9 |
O2micro Inc. |
13 |
10 |
University Of Connecticut |
11 |
11 |
Leanics Corporation |
11 |
12 |
Jpmorgan Chase Bank, N.A., As Agent |
11 |
13 |
Autoliv Nissin Brake Systems Japan Co., Ltd. |
11 |
14 |
Marvell World Trade Ltd. |
10 |
15 |
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. |
10 |
16 |
Deutsche Bank AG New York Branch |
10 |
17 |
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated |
9 |
18 |
Takamoto, Naohide |
9 |
19 |
Soon-Shiong, Patrick |
9 |
20 |
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. |
9 |
21 |
Roosenboom-Kooijmans, Maria Helena |
9 |
22 |
Maclennan, Grant A. |
9 |
23 |
University Of California San Diego |
8 |
24 |
Searete LLC |
8 |
25 |
Princeton University |
8 |
26 |
Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. |
8 |
27 |
Gupta, Amit |
8 |
28 |
Cook Incorporated |
8 |
29 |
Zeevi, Yehoshua Y |
7 |
30 |
Villar, Vicente Cajiga |
7 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)