IP-related statistics from the recent past
A selection of key IP facts and figures, as reported by IAM and other sources
Figure 1. IP royalty balance, selected countries 2001-2012

Sources: “Balance of Payments” by MOF (Japan), BEA(US), Eurostat(Germany/France/UK),UNCTAD(China/Korea)
Please note that the definition of ‘IP royalty’ varies among countries.
Figure 2. Number of patent examiners, IP5 offices 2006-2012

Source: Japan Patent Office Annual Report 2013
Table 1 (below). Stock performance of selected publicly traded IP-centric companies, July-September 2014

*CopyTele changed its name to ITUS on September 2 2014
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. These results are calculated by aggregating the number of transactions completed by an assignee/assignor in July and August 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, July-August 2014
# |
Assignee entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Ltd |
329 |
2 |
National Science Foundation |
311 |
3 |
Intel Corporation |
147 |
4 |
Microsoft Corporation |
114 |
5 |
Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co, Ltd |
101 |
6 |
International Business Machines Corporation |
98 |
7 |
Dow Global Technologies LLC |
98 |
8 |
Qualcomm Incorporated |
87 |
9 |
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha |
82 |
10 |
Florida Turbine Technologies Inc |
80 |
11 |
Abbott Diabetes Care Inc |
68 |
12 |
BTG International Limited |
64 |
13 |
Sony Corporation |
61 |
14 |
Medtronic Minimed, Inc |
61 |
15 |
National Institutes Of Health (NIH), US Dept Of Health And Human Services (DHHS), US Government |
58 |
16 |
Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd |
52 |
17 |
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft |
50 |
18 |
Japan Display Inc |
50 |
19 |
Oki Electric Industry Co, Ltd |
44 |
20 |
National Steel Car Ltd |
44 |
21 |
Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (Publ) |
42 |
22 |
Symbol Technologies, Inc |
41 |
23 |
The Regents Of The University Of California |
40 |
24 |
Alcatel Lucent |
40 |
25 |
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha |
39 |
26 |
The Invention Science Fund I, LLC |
39 |
27 |
Novartis AG |
39 |
28 |
Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co, Ltd |
37 |
29 |
Fatdoor, Inc |
37 |
30 |
AT&T Intellectual Property I, LP |
37 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)
Table 2b. Top 30 patent assignors by number of transactions, July-August 2014
# |
Assignor entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
Sharp Laboratories Of America Inc |
71 |
2 |
Abhyanker, Raj |
36 |
3 |
Searete LLC |
33 |
4 |
Abbott Laboratories |
30 |
5 |
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc |
29 |
6 |
Dinan, Esmael Hejazi |
17 |
7 |
Nalco Company |
16 |
8 |
Singh, Shailesh |
16 |
9 |
PNC Bank, National Association (As Successor-By-Merger To National City Bank) |
15 |
10 |
Lillard, James W, Jr |
14 |
11 |
Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd |
13 |
12 |
Madison Capital Funding LLC |
13 |
13 |
FSJC III, LLC, As Collateral Agent |
12 |
14 |
Hitachi, Ltd |
10 |
15 |
Silicon Valley Bank |
10 |
16 |
Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co, Ltd |
10 |
17 |
Siemens Corporation |
10 |
18 |
Bank Of America, NA |
9 |
19 |
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc |
9 |
20 |
Ryan, Daniel J |
9 |
21 |
Richard, Bernard J |
9 |
22 |
Pulfer, Roland |
9 |
23 |
Premark Packaging LLC |
9 |
24 |
Kueckendahl, Peter J |
9 |
25 |
Konami Digital Entertainment Co, Ltd |
9 |
26 |
Gilmartin, Brad D |
9 |
27 |
Armbruster, Kevin L |
9 |
28 |
General Electric Capital Corporation |
8 |
29 |
Microsoft Corporation |
8 |
30 |
Garrison Loan Agency Services LLC |
8 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)