IP-related statistics from the recent past
A selection of key IP facts and figures, as reported by IAM and other sources
Figure 1. The top patent holders in the Internet of Things (IoT) space as detailed in Relecura’s April report: “IoT - Technology Landscape and IP Commercialization Trends”. The full report is available here.

Figure 2. Median damages award (in $ million)

Figure 3. Median damages award (in $ million) (excluding summary and default judgment)

Table 1. Stock performance of selected publicly traded IP-centric companies, March-May 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 March and April 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, March-April 2017
# |
Assignee entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
National Institutes Of Health (NIH), U.S. Dept. Of Health And Human Services (DHHS), U.S. Government |
518 |
2 |
National Institutes Of Health - Director DEITR |
306 |
3 |
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. |
247 |
4 |
Inphi Corporation |
133 |
5 |
Olympus Corporation |
96 |
6 |
LG Electronics Inc. |
93 |
7 |
Intel Corporation |
82 |
8 |
Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. |
80 |
9 |
Dow Global Technologies LLC |
79 |
10 |
Thomson Licensing |
70 |
11 |
National Science Foundation |
70 |
12 |
JES Technology, LLC |
64 |
13 |
Qualcomm Incorporated |
63 |
14 |
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha |
61 |
15 |
NASA |
57 |
16 |
International Business Machines Corporation |
56 |
17 |
The Regents Of The University Of California |
55 |
18 |
Research In Motion Limited |
55 |
19 |
Sony Corporation |
53 |
20 |
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC |
52 |
21 |
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ) |
48 |
22 |
Robert Bosch GmbH |
48 |
23 |
Novartis AG |
48 |
24 |
Blackberry Limited |
48 |
25 |
Google Inc. |
47 |
26 |
Apple Inc. |
47 |
27 |
Stealth Peptides International, Inc. |
46 |
28 |
Microsoft Corporation |
45 |
29 |
Macom Connectivity Solutions, LLC |
45 |
30 |
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba |
45 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)
Table 2B. Top 30 patent assignors by number of transactions, March-April 2017
# |
Assignor entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
University Of Massachusetts Medical School |
103 |
2 |
University Of Massachusetts Medical Sch |
97 |
3 |
Partners Healthcare Innovation |
62 |
4 |
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center |
61 |
5 |
Washington University |
59 |
6 |
Clariphy Communications, Inc. |
51 |
7 |
University Of California Los Angeles |
37 |
8 |
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. |
33 |
9 |
Zena Technologies, Inc. |
31 |
10 |
Snacktops, Inc. |
29 |
11 |
Wayne State University |
26 |
12 |
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute |
24 |
13 |
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center |
23 |
14 |
Landis+Gyr Technology, Inc. |
22 |
15 |
John Wayne Cancer Institute |
21 |
16 |
Consert, Inc. |
21 |
17 |
University Of Pennsylvania |
19 |
18 |
Patel, Mahesh Vithalbhai |
19 |
19 |
Sharp Laboratories Of America, Inc. |
18 |
20 |
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory |
18 |
21 |
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology |
17 |
22 |
Johnson, Jason |
17 |
23 |
Northeastern Unviersity |
16 |
24 |
New York University |
16 |
25 |
Bank Of America, N.A. |
16 |
26 |
Siemens Corporation |
15 |
27 |
NSCL Trust, By Its Trustee 2327303 Ontario Inc. |
15 |
28 |
NEC Tokin Corporation |
15 |
29 |
Bhagwat, Sachin |
15 |
30 |
University Of Florida |
14 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)