            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)