LIST OF TOP PATENTING ORGANIZATIONS *
                      Calendar Year 1998

This report presents a preliminary list* of organizations receiving 
the most patents for invention (i.e., utility patents) during the 1998 
CALENDAR year.

For the sixth consecutive year, International Business Machines 
Corporation (IBM) received more utility patents than any other non-
Federal patenting organization.  For 1998, IBM received 2,657 utility 
patents, 54 percent more than its total for 1997. The second, third, 
and fourth ranked organizations also remain unchanged. Canon Kabushiki 
Kaisha is second, having received 1,928 utility patents in 1998, up 40 
percent from 1997 totals. NEC Corporation is third (1,627 patents in 
1998, up 49 percent from 1997 totals) and Motorola, Inc. is fourth 
(1,406 patents, up 33 percent from 1997 totals). Sony Corporation 
moves from tenth to fifth position (1,316 patents, up 53 percent from 
1997 totals).The only new organization appearing on the list of top 
patenting organizations is a notable one- Samsung Electronics Co., 
Ltd. moves into sixth place with 1,304 utility patents received in 
1998, more than twice as many patents as it received in 1997. 

Two organizations have been dropped from the list. They consist of a 
Japanese corporation (Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha) and the U.S. 
Government. The U.S. Government drops off the list of the top ten 
patenting organizations (1,017 patents received in 1998) after having 
been on the list each year since 1969, when patent ownership data by 
organization first began to be collected in electronic format. 

The top ten patenting organizations consist of three U.S. 
corporations, six Japanese corporations, and one corporation from the 
Republic of Korea. A complete listing of the top ten patenting 
organizations receiving utility patents in 1998 is shown below. Patent 
receipts by the U.S. Government are also displayed.



1998    1998                                         ( Rank  )  (# Patents)
Rank  # Patents  Organization                        (in 1997)  ( in 1997 )
----  ---------  --------------------------          ---------  ----------
  1     2,657    International Business Machines Corp  (1)       (1,724)
  2     1,928    Canon Kabushiki Kaisha                (2)       (1,381)
  3     1,627    NEC Corporation                       (3)       (1,095)
  4     1,406    Motorola Inc.                         (4)       (1,058)
  5     1,316    Sony Corporation                     (10)         (859)
  6     1,304    Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.        (17)         (582)
  7     1,189    Fujitsu Limited                       (6)         (903)
  8     1,170    Toshiba Corporation                   (9)         (862)
  9     1,124    Eastman Kodak Company                (11)         (795)
 10     1,094    Hitachi, Ltd.                         (6)         (903)

        1,017    U.S. GOVERNMENT                       (5)         (935)

* The  listed patent counts are preliminary counts which are subject to 
correction. The final listing of 1998 patent counts for the top patenting 
organizations should be available by early April.

Please Note:
Patent information presented reflects patent ownership at patent grant and 
does not include changes in ownership which occur after the patent grant.  
Where more than one assignee (owner) exists, patents are attributed to the 
first-named assignee.

No attempt has been made to combine data based on subsidiary relationships. 
However, where possible, spelling variations and variations based on name 
changes have been merged into a single name (e.g., ESSO to EXXON).  While 
every effort is made to accurately identify all organizational entities and 
report data by a single organization name, achievement of a totally clean 
record is not expected, particularly in view of the variations which occur 
in many corporate identifications.

------------------
Questions regarding this report should be directed to:
(address as of 1/99)
             U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
             Office for Patent and Trademark Information
             Technology Assessment and Forecast Program
             PK3-Suite 441
             Washington, DC  20231

             tel (703) 306-2600
             FAX (703) 306-2737

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SOURCE:   U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
          Technology Assessment and Forecast database  (1-7-99)