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IBM won a record number of U.S. patents in 2011, as it has for 19 straight years, with a record 6,180 utility patents, up nearly 5 percent from 2010.  A wave of Asian companies fixed on amassing U.S. patent grants, however, continues to grow. 

Samsung trails second with 4,894, up 8 percent, and Canon, up 11 percent, replaces Microsoft in the #3 slot with 2,821.  The next two, Panasonic and Toshiba, each move up one position from where they appeared last year.

According to IFI Claims Patent Services, the USPTO issued 224,505 utility patents in 2011, an increase of two percent over 2010's record breaking total.  Although patent grants are at all-time high, and global interest in building U.S. portfolios continues to mount, there appears to be a slight lessoning of patent growth among individual companies in the top 50. 

Cisco, HP, Intel, Microsoft and Oracle all saw fewer patent grants than in 2010.  In fact, 16 companies in the top 50 produced fewer patents than last year.  Whereby, in 2010, only one of the top 50 received fewer than the prior year.

“Global companies, and especially Asian ones, are collecting U.S patents at a dizzying pace, and now Asian firms hold eight of the top 10 slots in the 2011 ranking,” says Mike Baycroft, CEO, IFI Claims Patent Services.  “This isn’t to say that U.S. companies have lost their verve for patent production, as their patent portfolios are also growing.  It seems that Asian companies have apparently made it a higher priority.”

Asian firms now account for 25 or half of the top 50 U.S. patent-grant recipients with U.S. firms capturing 17 slots.  Asian countries represented in the top 50 include Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. 

In terms of pre-grant applications published in 2011, Asian firms captured 28 of the top 50 positions with the U.S. winning 14.

IBM's Strategy

Patents are part of IBM's strategy as the company seeks to expand in areas such as emerging markets, cloud computing and analytics.

Bloomberg says the company invests about $6 billion in research and development each year, and makes about $1 billion in licensing revenue.

IBM won its first patent for a perforating machine on July 25, 1911. Since then, the company’s inventors have received more than 70,000 patents, 34,000 of which are active.

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