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USPTO Released List of Top 10 Patent Receivers

Posted by samzenpus on from the who-owns-it dept.

prostoalex writes "So who received the most patents in 2004? Despite the frequent publicity around Microsoft's or Amazon's frivolous patents, these two companies are not even on the list. IBM, Matsushita and Canon received the most patents in 2004, followed by HP, Micron, Samsung, Intel, Hitachi, Toshiba and Sony. IBM alone was granted 3,248 patents last year."

4 of 230 comments (clear)

  1. Re:patents by savagedome · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "We don't even give a crap anymore. No really"
    -- Director of U.S. Patent Office, 1999

    --


    Free XBox, PS2
  2. Re:Before the "where's microsoft"... by HiThere · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Much as I despise the patent system, I must disagree with you. Many of these companies actually ARE innovating. Many of them ARE doing real discovery. (That said, yes, most of the patents applied for by even these companies are garbage. They are playing the game by the rules that have been written. That they may be lousy rules isn't something they consider very much [except when getting sued because they didn't patent, e.g., waiting in line to use the john on an airplane by holding a ticket instead of by standing in the aile.: Patented by IBM and dedicated to the public as a good will measure].)

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  3. These patents were filed 3 or 4 years ago by louarnkoz · · Score: 5, Insightful
    There is a delay between the time a patent is applied for and the time it is allocated. The patent office is throughly congested, and the delay keeps increasing. Nowadays, it is at least 3 or 4 years. The statistics in the parent article describe the patents granted in 2004. The corresponding applications were probably done in 1999, 2000 or 2001.

    IBM has been filing patents for many years, and has maintained more or less the same level over the years. On the other hand, four years ago, we did not hear much about Microsoft filing patents. So, their absence in the top 10 is not all that surprising.

  4. Building corporate goodwill by tepples · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Corporations are considered "the good guys" if their corporate culture involves building goodwill through being a good corporate citizen. Goodwill can be monetized as the value of a corporation's trademarks.