                   TOP PATENTING ORGANIZATIONS             Page 1 of 2

                        Calendar Year 1996





This report lists the organizations receiving the most patents for

invention (i.e., utility patents) during the 1996 CALENDAR year.



For the fourth straight year, International Business Machines

Corporation (IBM) received more utility patents than any other non-

Federal organization.  IBM's  1,867 patents in 1996 represent a 35

percent increase over its patent total for the previous year and

are the most patents ever granted to a non-Federal organization in

a single year.  Canon Kabushiki Kaisha ranks second for 1996 with

1,541 utility patents, a 42 percent increase over its patent total

for the previous year.



With Motorola, Inc. ranked third (1,064 patents), U.S. corporations

comprise two of the top three patenting organizations for the

calendar year.  However, no other U.S. corporations are among the

top ten non-Federal patenting organizations in 1996.  The other top

ten organizations are Japanese corporations, with Sony Corporation

and Fujitsu Limited joining the list and U.S. corporations, Eastman

Kodak Company and General Electric Company dropping from the list.



The Federal Government received 923 utility patents in 1996 placing

it seventh among all organizations receiving utility patents for

the year.



A complete listing of the top eleven organizations receiving

utility patents in 1996 is shown below.



1996    1996                                         ( Rank  )  (# Patents)

Rank  # Patents  Organization                        (in 1995)  ( in 1995 )

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

  1     1,867    International Business Machines Corp  (1)       (1,383)

  2     1,541    Canon Kabushiki Kaisha                (2)       (1,087)

  3     1,064    Motorola Inc.                         (4)       (1,012)

  4     1,043    NEC Corporation                       (5)       (1,005)

  5       963    Hitachi, Ltd.                         (8)         (910)

  6       934    Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha     (6)         (973)

  7       923    U.S. GOVERNMENT                       (3)       (1,026)

  8       914    Toshiba Corporation                   (7)         (969)

  9       869    Fujitsu Limited                      (13)         (724)

 10       855    Sony Corporation                     (12)         (754)

 11       841    Matsushita Electric Indus. Co., Ltd.  (9)         (854)





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.

(continued)

                                                           Page 2 of 2



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.

__________________________________________________________________

SOURCE:   U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

          Technology Assessment and Forecast data base  (1-17-97)











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

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(address as of 2/97)

             U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

             Office of Electronic Information Products

             Technology Assessment and Forecast Program

             PK3-Suite 441

             Washington, DC  20231



             tel (703) 306-2600

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