IP-related statistics from the recent past
A selection of key IP facts and figures, as reported by IAM and other sources
Figures 1 and 2 show the share of new patent litigation cases filed in selected federal districts before and after the US Supreme Court decision in TC Heartland LLC v Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC. The ruling held that, as applied to domestic corporations, ‘residence’ in the patent venue statute Section 1400(b) refers only to the state of incorporation. After the May 22 2017 decision, the District of Delaware overtook the Eastern District of Texas as the top venue for new suits.
Figure 1. 2017 patent litigation pre-TC Heartland

Figure 2. 2017 patent litigation post-TC Heartland

Table 1. Stock performance of selected publicly traded IP-centric companies, May-July 2017

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. These results are calculated by aggregating the number of transactions completed by an assignee/assignor in May and June 2017.
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, May-June 2017
# |
Assignee entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
National Institutes Of Health - Director DEITR |
502 |
2 |
National Institutes Of Health (NIH), U.S. Dept. Of Health And Human Services (DHHS), U.S. Government |
392 |
3 |
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. |
188 |
4 |
Trimble Inc. |
151 |
5 |
Dow Global Technologies LLC |
127 |
6 |
LG Electronics Inc. |
110 |
7 |
National Science Foundation |
109 |
8 |
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC |
79 |
9 |
Intel Corporation |
74 |
10 |
Olympus Corporation |
71 |
11 |
The Regents Of The University Of California |
65 |
12 |
Siemens Healthcare GmbH |
63 |
13 |
Sony Corporation |
61 |
14 |
Nestec S.A. |
61 |
15 |
Thomson Licensing |
58 |
16 |
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft |
56 |
17 |
Abb Schweiz AG |
56 |
18 |
Optinose AS |
53 |
19 |
Nalco Company LLC |
50 |
20 |
Google Inc. |
49 |
21 |
Youngo Limited |
47 |
22 |
Microsoft Corporation |
44 |
23 |
Qualcomm Incorporated |
42 |
24 |
Koninklijke Philips N.V. |
39 |
25 |
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. |
39 |
26 |
Alibaba Group Holding Limited |
39 |
27 |
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba |
38 |
28 |
University Of Southern California |
37 |
29 |
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ) |
37 |
30 |
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. |
37 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)
Table 2B. Top 30 patent assignors by number of transactions, May-June 2017
# |
Assignor entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
Partners Healthcare Innovation |
161 |
2 |
University Of Utah |
76 |
3 |
Washington University |
73 |
4 |
Landmark Enterprise Inc. |
47 |
5 |
North Carolina State University Raleigh |
44 |
6 |
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. |
40 |
7 |
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory |
37 |
8 |
Shire-NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
33 |
9 |
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft |
33 |
10 |
University Of Delaware |
31 |
11 |
Mcghie, Sean I. |
30 |
12 |
Buchheit, Brian K. |
29 |
13 |
Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. |
25 |
14 |
Boston Children's Hospital |
23 |
15 |
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center |
21 |
16 |
PNC Bank, National Association |
21 |
17 |
University Of Colorado |
19 |
18 |
Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. |
19 |
19 |
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation |
19 |
20 |
Wang, King-Yuan |
18 |
21 |
Desomma, Frank L. |
17 |
22 |
University Of Maryland, College Park |
16 |
23 |
Bank Of America, N.A. |
16 |
24 |
Icahn School Of Medicine At Mount Sinai |
15 |
25 |
Silicon Valley Bank |
15 |
26 |
Quarterhill Inc. |
15 |
27 |
University Of Florida |
14 |
28 |
HP Printing And Computing Solutions, S.L.U. |
14 |
29 |
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba |
14 |
30 |
Univ Of North Carolina Chapel Hill |
13 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)