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IBM Tops "Most Patents List" For 19th Straight Year
bednarz writes "IBM retained its patent crown for 2011, topping the list of patent winners for the 19th year in a row. The only other U.S. company to make the top 10, Microsoft, fell from third place to sixth place, according to IFI Claims Patent Services' list of the top 50 U.S. patent assignees. HP and Intel fell out of the top 10 and landed 14th and 16th, respectively. Apple moved up to No. 39 after breaking into the top 50 for the first time last year. Asian firms account for 25 of the top 50, and U.S. firms hold 17 slots."
If you compare the breadth of operation by Samsung and that of Apple, it's easy to see that Samsung has its fingers in a lot more pies, and it would be surprising if they didn't file more patents than Apple. It might be surprising if they filed more about tablets than Apple, though.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
As part of owning a patent you must hold up the legal end of if someone steals your patents you must legal go after them for restitution
Your facts are as wrong as your grammar.
He has a patent on both.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
If there are many more like this one:
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/01/10/1450255/ibm-snags-patent-on-half-day-off-of-work-notifications
then color me unimpressed.
Next up - IBM patents starting fire by rubbing sticks together.
Yes I do realise the two above points at the time of posting. It's what they're doing with the patents that I find interesting. Samsung has huge clout and it's tentacles spread far and wide. What they are doing with their patents and how how they are enforcing them is what I find interesting.
Watch those corners
I guess I don't follow this closely enough, but was anyone else surprised to see Hon Hai with more patents than Apple? For those who don't know, Hon Hai, aka Foxconn, is Apple's primary manufacturing partner.
I guess I don't understand. Didn't Samsung just pass Apple as the largest smartphone company. According to Wikipedia, Samsung is the largest IT company, 2nd largest shipbuilder, 35th and 72nd largest construction companies (two different subsidiaries), 14th largest insurance company, and 19th largest advertising agency in the world. There is a lot there to patent. As for enforcement, are you talking about how they were lax with enforcement with Apple until sued? Most companies will look the other way on a small patent license fee for 6 billion dollars in business. Few companies will look the other way when a company sues them. Patents don't work like trademarks, though, so its Samsung's choice.
IEEE Spectrum magazine annually puts out an international "Patent Power" scorecard for all the major industries to measure patent quality. In its most recent index published in November 2011, Apple was graded as having the powerful patent portfolio among the consumer electronics companies. Note that companies are listed in only one category, and Samsung is listed in the semiconductor industry, most likely because that is the domain where the majority of its patents are filed. IBM dwarfs all other companies; it is listed in the "Computer Systems" category. In the PDF file that has the actual metrics, the key value to look for is "adjusted pipeline power".
If you compare the breadth of operation by Samsung and that of Apple, it's easy to see that Samsung has its fingers in a lot more pies, and it would be surprising if they didn't file more patents than Apple. It might be surprising if they filed more about tablets than Apple, though.
Samsung also has tons of patents on Real Things, not just software and device design. They do fundamental research into a lot of chemical and physical processes that feed into their display business, for instance. They patent methods and materials based on that research.
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
By now it wouldn't surprise me if IBM had the biggest patent arsenal in the world. They've spent decades investing heavily in R&D.
Yet you never hear about IBM suing anyone or anyone suing IBM, except for Darl McBride. Remember him? Took a long time to settle that case, didn't it?
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
BusinessWeek: "Everyone knows that if they attempt to bring their patent portfolio against us that they will be met with an equal and opposite force -- and it will be formidable," [IBM Chief Patent Counsel] Schecter said.