IP-related statistics from the recent past
A selection of key IP facts and figures, as reported by IAM and other sources
Table 1. Top 10 recipients of USPTO utility patent grants, 2016
# |
Assignee |
2016 grants |
2015 grants |
% change |
Previous rank |
Rank change |
1 |
International Business Machines Corp |
8,088 |
7,355 |
9.97% |
1 |
none |
2 |
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd |
5,518 |
5,072 |
8.79% |
2 |
none |
3 |
Canon KK |
3,665 |
4,134 |
-11.34% |
3 |
none |
4 |
Qualcomm Inc |
2,897 |
2,900 |
-0.10% |
4 |
none |
5 |
Google Inc |
2,835 |
2,835 |
0.00% |
5 |
none |
6 |
Intel Corp |
2,784 |
2,048 |
35.94% |
9 |
+3 |
7 |
LG Electronics Inc |
2,428 |
2,242 |
8.30% |
8 |
+1 |
8 |
Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC |
2,398 |
1,956 |
22.60% |
10 |
+2 |
9 |
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) Ltd |
2,288 |
1,774 |
28.97% |
13 |
+4 |
10 |
Sony Corp |
2,181 |
2,455 |
-11.16% |
7 |
-3 |
Source: IFI CLAIMS
Table 2. Biggest year-on-year growth in USPTO utility patent grants (among top 50 assignees)
# |
Assignee |
2016 grants |
2015 grants |
% change |
Previous rank |
Rank change |
40 |
BOE Technology Group Co Ltd |
870 |
285 |
205.26% |
122 |
+82 |
22 |
GlobalFoundries Inc |
1,407 |
609 |
131.03% |
60 |
+38 |
49 |
Nokia Technologies Oy |
695 |
400 |
73.75% |
88 |
+39 |
25 |
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd |
1,202 |
800 |
50.25% |
44 |
+19 |
14 |
Amazon Technologies Inc |
1,662 |
1,136 |
46.30% |
26 |
+12 |
31 |
Hyundai Motor Co |
1,035 |
744 |
39.11% |
50 |
+19 |
6 |
Intel Corp |
2,784 |
2,048 |
35.94% |
9 |
+3 |
9 |
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) Ltd |
2,288 |
1,774 |
28.97% |
13 |
+4 |
19 |
Ford Global Technologies LLC |
1,524 |
1,185 |
28.61% |
24 |
+5 |
26 |
SK Hynix Inc |
1,125 |
891 |
26.26% |
39 |
+13 |
Source: IFI CLAIMS
Table 3. Stock performance of selected publicly traded IP-centric companies, November-December 2016
Source: Google Finance
Tables 4A and 4B 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 November and December 2016.
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 4A. Top 30 patent assignees by number of transactions, November-December 2016
# |
Assignee entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
National Institutes Of Health (NIH), U.S. Dept. Of Health And Human Services (DHHS), U.S. Government |
264 |
2 |
Micron Technology, Inc. |
136 |
3 |
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. |
110 |
4 |
Driscoll's, Inc. |
101 |
5 |
WestRock Dispensing Systems, Inc. |
77 |
6 |
Aptina Imaging Corporation |
67 |
7 |
Nevro Corp. |
63 |
8 |
Olympus Corporation |
60 |
9 |
True Health IP LLC |
56 |
10 |
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. |
51 |
11 |
LG Electronics Inc. |
47 |
12 |
Robert Bosch GmbH |
44 |
13 |
National Institutes Of Health - Director DEITR |
42 |
14 |
International Business Machines Corporation |
42 |
15 |
Dow Global Technologies LLC |
41 |
16 |
ZTE Corporation |
40 |
17 |
Stamps.Com Inc. |
39 |
18 |
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft |
37 |
19 |
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. |
37 |
20 |
Siemens Healthcare GmbH |
36 |
21 |
The Regents Of The University Of California |
35 |
22 |
Microsoft Corporation |
33 |
23 |
National Science Foundation |
30 |
24 |
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba |
29 |
25 |
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ) |
28 |
26 |
Apple Inc. |
27 |
27 |
Intel Corporation |
27 |
28 |
Gamblit Gaming LLC |
24 |
29 |
Hospira, Inc. |
24 |
30 |
Sony Corporation |
24 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)
Table 4B. Top 30 patent assignors by number of transactions, November-December 2016
# |
Assignor entity |
Number of assignments transacted |
1 |
Dana-Farber Cancer Inst |
43 |
2 |
True Health Diagnostics LLC |
34 |
3 |
Vanderbilt University |
31 |
4 |
University Of Washington |
31 |
5 |
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft |
24 |
6 |
True Health Diagnostics, LLC |
21 |
7 |
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. |
21 |
8 |
University Of Florida |
19 |
9 |
Siemens Corporation |
15 |
10 |
Sharp Laboratories Of America, Inc. |
14 |
11 |
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center |
14 |
12 |
Enovation Controls, LLC |
14 |
13 |
Washington University |
11 |
14 |
Cornell University |
11 |
15 |
Wells Fargo Bank, National Association |
11 |
16 |
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. |
10 |
17 |
Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. |
9 |
18 |
Northeastern University |
9 |
19 |
Macroplata, Inc. |
9 |
20 |
LumenR, LLC. |
9 |
21 |
University Of Utah |
8 |
22 |
University Of California San Diego |
8 |
23 |
Starck, Philippe |
8 |
24 |
Alveo Energy |
8 |
25 |
Wang, Yangbin |
8 |
26 |
Wells Fargo Capital Finance, LLC |
8 |
27 |
Zhang, Jian |
7 |
28 |
Winograd, Joseph M. |
7 |
29 |
Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. |
7 |
30 |
O'Neil, Virgil |
7 |
Source: ktMINE (www.ktmine.com)