    PRELIMINARY LIST OF TOP PATENTING ORGANIZATIONS *    Page 1 of 2

                   Calendar Year 1997



This report presents a preliminary list of organizations

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

during the 1997 CALENDAR year.



For the fifth straight year, International Business Machines

Corporation (IBM) received more utility patents than any other

non-Federal patenting organization.  For 1997, IBM received

1,724 utility patents, down slightly from its total for 1996.

Canon Kabushiki Kaisha again ranks second with 1,381 utility

patents, also down slightly from its 1996 total.



NEC Corporation (1,095 patents) has moved to third place on the

list of top patenting organizations replacing Motorola, Inc.

which drops to fourth position (1,058 patents). The U.S.

Government moves to fifth place on the list with a total of 935

patents for the year.



The top eleven patenting organizations for 1997 are the same as

those identified for 1996 with the exception of Eastman Kodak

Company which rejoins the list in tenth position with 795

patents, displacing Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.,

which has dropped off the list. The top eleven patenting

organizations consist of three U.S. corporations, seven Japanese

corporations, and the U.S. Government.



A complete listing of the top eleven patenting organizations

receiving utility patents in 1997 is shown below.



1997    1997                                         ( Rank  )  (# Patents)

Rank  # Patents  Organization                        (in 1996)  ( in 1996 )

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

  1     1,724    International Business Machines Corp  (1)       (1,867)

  2     1,381    Canon Kabushiki Kaisha                (2)       (1,541)

  3     1,095    NEC Corporation                       (4)       (1,043)

  4     1,058    Motorola Inc.                         (3)       (1,064)

  5       935    U.S. GOVERNMENT                       (7)         (923)

  6       903    Fujitsu Limited                       (9)         (869)

          903    Hitachi, Ltd.                         (5)         (963)

  8       892    Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha     (6)         (934)

  9       862    Toshiba Corporation                   (8)         (914)

 10       859    Sony Corporation                     (10)         (855)

 11       795    Eastman Kodak Company                (13)         (768)





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

correction. The final listing of 1997 patent counts for the top patenting

organizations should be available by early April.



(continued)



       PRELIMINARY LIST OF TOP PATENTING ORGANIZATIONS *    Page 2 of 2



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 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

             FAX (703) 306-2737



____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SOURCE:   U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

          Technology Assessment and Forecast data base  (1-8-98)



