            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)