                   PATENTING BY ORGANIZATIONS

                        Top Ten Companies
                       Calendar Year 1992

This report, prepared from the Technology Assessment and Forecast
(TAF) data base, shows the ten organizations which received the
most utility patents during the 1992 CALENDAR YEAR.

Patent information included in the report reflects patent ownership
at patent grant and does not include changes in ownership which
occur after the patent grant. Where more than one assignee 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.

In 1992, the ten organizations which obtained the most patents for
inventions (i.e., utility patents) are corporations. They include
six corporations from Japan and four from the United States. Four
of the top five corporations are Japanese.

Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, ranked fifth in 1991 patent receipts,
replaces Toshiba as the corporation receiving the most U.S.
patents. General Electric Company, the top U.S. corporation,
occupies the fifth position. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.,
Ltd., a Japanese corporation, replaces U.S. Philips Corporation, a
corporation from the Netherlands, in the top ten list for 1992. A
complete listing of the top ten organizations receiving utility
patents during 1992 is shown below.

Rank    (Rank in 1991) Organization              # Patents in 1992

  1        (5)         Canon Kabushiki Kaisha            1,106
  2        (1)         Toshiba Corporation               1,020
  3        (2)         Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha   957
  4        (3)         Hitachi, Ltd.                       951
  5        (6)         General Electric Company            937
  6        (8)         International Business Machines           
                       Corporation                         842
  7        (4)         Eastman Kodak Company               775
  8       (10)         Motorola Inc.                       658
  9        (7)         Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.           640
 10       (15)         Matsushita Electric 
                       Industrial Co., Ltd.                608
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SOURCE:      U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
             Technology Assessment and Forecast Program  (2-17-93)
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(address updated 4/96)
             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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