PRELIMINARY LIST OF TOP PATENTING ORGANIZATIONS *

                     Calendar Year 2000



This report presents a preliminary list of the organizations receiving

the most patents for invention (i.e., utility patents) during the 2000

calendar year.



International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) ranks first, receiving

2,886 utility patents, up five percent from its 1999 patent count. This

is the eighth consecutive year that IBM has received more utility

patents than any other non-Federal patenting organization.



For the year, the top ten patenting organizations consist of four U.S.

corporations, five Japanese corporations, and one corporation from the

Republic of Korea. One U.S. corporation has been added and one Japanese

corporation has been dropped from the list.



Second through fourth positions on the list remain unchanged for 2000.

NEC Corporation ranks second with 2,020 patents, Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

ranks third with 1,890 patents, and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is 

ranked fourth with 1,441 patents. 



Among other U.S. organizations, Lucent Technologies Inc. jumps from

ninth to fifth position with 1,411 patents, up 22 percent from the

previous year. Micron Technology, Inc. joins the list in seventh

position with 1,304 patents, up 40 percent from its count for the

previous year and Motorola, Inc. drops from seventh to ninth position

with a count of 1,196 patents for the year. Among Japanese

organizations, Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha falls off the list. 



The U.S. Government received 920 utility patents for the year. 

 

A complete preliminary listing of the top ten patenting organizations

receiving utility patents in 2000 is shown below. Patent receipts by

the U.S. Government are also displayed.







 (Preliminary *)                                     ( Final ) ( Final   )

2000    2000                                         ( Rank  ) (# Patents)

Rank  # Patents  Organization *                      (in 1999) ( in 1999 )

----  ---------  --------------------------          --------- -----



 1     2,886     International Business Machines Corp.     (1)  (2,756)

 2     2,020     NEC Corporation                           (2)  (1,842)

 3     1,890     Canon Kabushiki Kaisha                    (3)  (1,795)

 4     1,441     Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.             (4)  (1,545)

 5     1,411     Lucent Technologies Inc.                  (9)  (1,152)

 6     1,385     Sony Corporation                          (5)  (1,410)

 7     1,304     Micron Technology, Inc.                  (14)    (933)

 8     1,232     Toshiba Corporation                       (6)  (1,200)

 9     1,196     Motorola Inc.                             (7)  (1,192)

10     1,147     Fujitsu Limited                           (7)  (1,192)



         920     U.S. GOVERNMENT                                  (983)



* The  listed patent counts are preliminary counts which are subject to

  correction. The final listing of 2000 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 ownership changes that 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 to report data by a single 

organization name, achievement of a totally clean record is not 

expected, particularly in view of the many variations which occur in

corporate identifications.



------------------

Questions regarding this report should be directed to:

(address as of 5/2001)

             U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

             Information Products Division

             Technology Assessment and Forecast Branch

             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  (1-8-2001)



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