IP-related statistics from the recent past
A selection of key IP facts and figures, as reported by IAM and other sources
Table 1. Stock performance of selected publicly traded IP-centric companies, September-November 2015

Source: Google Finance
Tables 2a and 2b 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 (USPTO). These results are calculated by aggregating the number of transactions completed by an assignee/assignor in September and October 2015.
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 2a. Top 30 patent assignees by number of transactions, September-October 2015
# |
Assignee entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
National Institutes Of Health (NIH), U.S. Dept. Of Health And Human Services (DHHS), U.S. Government |
210 |
2 |
International Business Machines Corporation |
78 |
3 |
Microsoft Corporation |
69 |
4 |
Robert Bosch GmbH |
68 |
5 |
Intel Corporation |
68 |
6 |
S. Aqua Semiconductor, LLC |
60 |
7 |
Dow Global Technologies LLC |
60 |
8 |
Sony Corporation |
55 |
9 |
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft |
53 |
10 |
Xylon LLC |
48 |
11 |
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha |
47 |
12 |
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. |
46 |
13 |
Google Inc. |
46 |
14 |
Broadcom Corporation |
45 |
15 |
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha |
44 |
16 |
Molex, LLC |
39 |
17 |
Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (Publ) |
37 |
18 |
Antares Capital LP, As Successor Agent |
37 |
19 |
DePuy Synthes Products, Inc. |
36 |
20 |
Antares Capital LP |
36 |
21 |
Alliant Techsystems Inc. |
35 |
22 |
Nestec S.A. |
30 |
23 |
The Regents Of The University Of California |
29 |
24 |
AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. |
29 |
25 |
US Army, Secretary Of The Army |
28 |
26 |
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology |
28 |
27 |
E. I. Du Pont De Nemours And Company |
28 |
28 |
National Institutes Of Health - Director DEITR |
27 |
29 |
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. |
26 |
30 |
Energy, United States Department Of |
26 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)
Table 2b. Top 30 patent assignors by number of transactions, September-October 2015
# |
Assignee entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
Bank Of America, N.A. |
47 |
2 |
Sharp Laboratories Of America, Inc. |
29 |
3 |
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. |
24 |
4 |
University Of California, San Francisco |
22 |
5 |
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. |
20 |
6 |
Ohio State University |
18 |
7 |
Emory University |
18 |
8 |
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. |
16 |
9 |
University Of Utah |
15 |
10 |
Luminus Devices, Inc. |
15 |
11 |
Com Affiliation, Inc. |
15 |
12 |
University Of California |
14 |
13 |
UChicago Argonne, LLC |
14 |
14 |
Searete LLC |
13 |
15 |
Brigham And Women's Hospital |
13 |
16 |
Sloan-Kettering Institute For Cancer Research |
10 |
17 |
O'Brien, Gary |
10 |
18 |
Massachusetts General Hospital |
10 |
19 |
Dana-Farber Cancer Inst |
10 |
20 |
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center |
10 |
21 |
Square 1 Bank |
9 |
22 |
MoneyDesktop, Inc. |
9 |
23 |
University Of NC At Chapel Hill |
8 |
24 |
ScienBiziP Consulting(Shenzhen)Co.,Ltd. |
8 |
25 |
PNC Bank, National Association |
8 |
26 |
Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, As Collateral Agent |
7 |
27 |
Silicon Valley Bank |
7 |
28 |
Princeton University |
7 |
29 |
Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. |
7 |
30 |
Yeung, Minerva M. |
6 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)
Tables 3 and 4 cover USPTO assignment records covering the period between 2009 and 2014 featuring keywords related to the assignment of a security interest in a given patent or application. Table 3 outlines the top 10 lenders of patent-backed finance in that period based on those searches, in terms of the number of patents and applications that they have taken as collateral for the purpose of making loans. Table 4 lists the top 20 patent owners that have been beneficiaries of credit loaned against their US patent assets during the same period. In the below cases, patents were not necessarily the only or primary collateral. Therefore, we do not know whether the patents were collateralised specifically for their intrinsic value.
Table 3. Lenders that transacted the most US patents as part of financing transactions, 2009-2014
Financing entity |
Number of patent assets transacted |
Share of overall financing transactions |
JP Morgan Chase |
48,804 |
14.63% |
Bank Of America |
46,897 |
14.06% |
Citigroup |
34,658 |
10.39% |
Wells Fargo |
32,716 |
9.81% |
Wilmington Trust |
31,369 |
9.40% |
Deutsche Bank |
27,172 |
8.15% |
Credit Suisse |
18,758 |
5.62% |
BNY Mellon |
16,142 |
4.84% |
GE Capital |
12,774 |
3.83% |
US Department of the Treasury |
12,212 |
3.66% |
Source: Relecura
Table 4. Patent owners that transacted the most US patents as part of financing transactions, 2009-2014
Patent owner |
Number of patent assets transacted |
Share of overall financing transactions |
General Motors |
15,866 |
4.76% |
Avago |
12,946 |
3.88% |
Alcatel-Lucent |
10,023 |
3.00% |
Kodak |
8,438 |
2.53% |
Freescale Semiconductor |
8,149 |
2.44% |
Seagate |
5,910 |
1.77% |
Dell |
4,609 |
1.38% |
Avaya |
3,162 |
0.95% |
Chrysler |
2,914 |
0.87% |
Ps4 Luxco |
2,313 |
0.69% |
Source: Relecura
Table 5. Largest attorneys’ fee awards in the United States since 2008
Case |
Fees awarded to |
Date |
Amount |
Bard Peripheral Vasc v WL Gore & Associates |
Bard Peripheral |
March 31 2009 |
$19,000,000 |
Gabriel Technologies v Qualcomm |
Qualcomm |
February 1 2013 |
$12,401,014 |
Monolithic Power Systems Inc v O2Micro International Limited |
Monolithic Power Systems |
May 3 2012 |
$8,419,429 |
Medtronic v Mirowski Family Ventures |
Medtronic |
August 26 2015 |
$6,028,305 |
Therasense, Inc v Becton, Dickinson and Company |
Becton, Dickinson and Company |
May 22 2012 |
$5,949,050 |
Bayer CropScience v Dow Agrosciences |
Dow Agrosciences |
June 18 2015 |
$5,902,590 |
Tivo Inc v Echostar Comm |
Tivo Inc |
February 8 2010 |
$5,800,000 |
Advanced Thermal Sciences Corp v Applied Materials Inc |
Advanced Thermal Sciences Corp |
July 23 2010 |
$5,700,000 |
Plant Genetic Systems NV v Mycogen Plant Sciences Inc |
Mycogen Plant Sciences |
September 28 2012 |
$5,321,463 |
Kilopass Technology v Sidense Corp |
Sidense Corporation |
March 11 2015 |
$5,315,315 |
Source: Docket Navigator