USPTO Releases Annual List of Top 10 Organizations Receiving Most U.S. Patents

PRESS RELEASE
Contact:
Brigid Quinn
703-305-8341
brigid.quinn@uspto.gov

January 13, 2003
#03-01

USPTO RELEASES ANNUAL LIST OF TOP 10 ORGANIZATIONS
RECEIVING MOST U.S. PATENTS
American Innovation Leads the Field

The Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced the 2002 top 10 private sector patent recipients today. Listed below are the 10 corporations receiving the most patents for inventions in 2002, along with their 2001 ranking. For the tenth consecutive year, IBM received more patents than any other private sector organization.

In 2002, four U.S. corporations are included on the list of top ten patenting organizations, up from two in 2001. "American corporations continue to build America’s technological strength worldwide," said James E. Rogan, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property. "Patents promote technological progress and stimulate economic growth and investment in commerce, creating jobs for millions of Americans.”

Top 10 Private Sector Patent Recipients for the 2002 Calendar Year

Preliminary
Rank in 2002*

Preliminary
# Patents in 2002*

Organization*

(Final Rank
in 2001)

(Final Number of Patents in 2001)

1

3,288
International Business Machines Corporation
(1)

(3,411)

2

1,893
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
(3)

(1,877)

3

1,833
Micron Technology, Inc.
(4)

(1,643)

4

1,821
NEC Corporation
(2)

(1,953)

5

1,602
Hitachi, Ltd
(8)

(1,271)

6

1,544
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
(6)

(1,440)

7

1,434
Sony Corporation
(7)

(1,363)

8

1,416
General Electric Company
(13)

(1,107)

9

1,385
Hewlett-Packard Company **
(15)

(978)

10

1,373
Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
(9)

(1,184)

*The listed patent counts are preliminary counts. Final patent counts should be available in April 2003. Patent information reflects patent ownership at the time of patent grant and does not include ownership changes that occur after the patent grant. Where more than one assignee (owner) exists, patents are attributed to the first-named assignee.

** Calendar year counts for 2002 for Hewlett-Packard Company include 159 patents issued to Compaq Computer Corporation, Inc. and 165 patents issued to Compaq Information Technologies Group, L.P.

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