IP-related statistics from the recent past
A selection of key IP facts and figures, as reported by IAM and other sources
Figure 1. US patent applicants with the most allowances withdrawn since Alice Corp v CLS Bank

This chart shows which assignees of patent applications have had the most allowances (ie, notices that a patent application is allowable) withdrawn by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) since the US Supreme Court’s June 2014 decision in Alice Corp v CLS Bank International.
Source: “Apply it to the USPTO: Review of the implementation of Alice v CLS Bank in patent examination”, Tristan Gray-Le Coz and Charles Duan, 2014 Patently-O Patent Law Journal
Table 1. Stock performance of selected publicly traded IP-centric companies, September-November 2014

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 USPTO. These results are calculated by aggregating the number of transactions completed by an assignee/assignor in September and October 2014. 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 appear multiple times in the tables.
Table 2a. Top 30 patent assignees by number of transactions, September-October 2014
# |
Assignee entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
National Institutes Of Health (NIH), U.S. Dept. Of Health And Human Services (DHHS), U.S. Government |
284 |
2 |
Microsoft Corporation |
134 |
3 |
Intel Corporation |
105 |
4 |
International Business Machines Corporation |
93 |
5 |
Qualcomm Incorporated |
67 |
6 |
Kimree Hi-Tech Inc. |
60 |
7 |
Energy, United States Department Of |
56 |
8 |
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft |
55 |
9 |
U.S. Department Of Energy |
53 |
10 |
Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. |
52 |
11 |
Google Inc. |
51 |
12 |
Cognex Technology And Investment LLC |
50 |
13 |
Sony Corporation |
48 |
14 |
The Regents Of The University Of California |
44 |
15 |
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. |
43 |
16 |
Henkel Corporation |
40 |
17 |
Apple Inc. |
37 |
18 |
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha |
36 |
19 |
Robert Bosch GmbH |
35 |
20 |
Novartis AG |
34 |
21 |
The Invention Science Fund I, LLC |
33 |
22 |
AT&T Intellectual Property II, L.P. |
33 |
23 |
Silicon Valley Bank |
31 |
24 |
Shutterfly, Inc |
31 |
25 |
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA |
31 |
26 |
Thomson Licensing |
29 |
27 |
Nike, Inc. |
28 |
28 |
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. |
28 |
29 |
Dow Global Technologies LLC |
27 |
30 |
Valve Corporation |
26 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)
Table 2b. Top 30 patent assignors by number of transactions, September-October 2014
# |
Assignor entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. |
35 |
2 |
Searete LLC |
25 |
3 |
Bank Of America, N.A. |
22 |
4 |
AT&T Corp. |
22 |
5 |
Yairi, Micah B. |
20 |
6 |
AT&T Properties, LLC |
18 |
7 |
NicOx SA |
13 |
8 |
Euro-Celtique S.A. |
13 |
9 |
Saal, Nathaniel Mark |
12 |
10 |
Nestle Waters Management & Technology |
11 |
11 |
Hueter, Geoffrey J. |
11 |
12 |
Fujioka, Robb |
11 |
13 |
Ciesla, Craig M. |
11 |
14 |
Carswell, Ian B. |
11 |
15 |
SPF Tech, LLC |
10 |
16 |
Siemens Corporation |
10 |
17 |
Nicholas, Frank C. |
10 |
18 |
Ford, Byron D. |
10 |
19 |
Oscillon Ltd. |
9 |
20 |
Nanostim, Inc. |
9 |
21 |
Liang, George |
9 |
22 |
General Instrument Holdings, Inc. |
9 |
23 |
Baylor College Of Medicine |
9 |
24 |
Turner, David |
8 |
25 |
STMicroelectronics Pvt. Ltd. |
8 |
26 |
MO2, LLC |
8 |
27 |
Marshall, Michael C. |
8 |
28 |
Iyer, Sundar |
8 |
29 |
Ejebe, Kenechi, Dr. |
8 |
30 |
Cywee Group Limited |
8 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)