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U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
Electronic Information Products Division
Patent Technology Monitoring Branch (PTMB)

# CALENDAR YEAR 2005
PRELIMINARY LIST OF TOP PATENTING ORGANIZATIONS *

(report dated 6-Jan-2006)

This report presents a preliminary list of the organizations receiving the most patents for invention (i.e., utility patents) during the 2005 calendar year.

For the thirteenth consecutive year, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) ranks first among non-Federal patenting organizations. IBM received 2,941 utility patents in 2005, somewhat below its total of 3,248 patents for 2004. Two of the top three and four of the top seven patenting organizations on the list are U.S. organizations. The top ten list includes four U.S. organizations, five Japanese organizations, and one South Korean organization.

For 2005, U.S. organizations on the list of top ten patenting organizations include International Business Machines Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (in third position, up from fourth in 2004), Micron Technology, Inc. (again in sixth position), and Intel Corporation (again in seventh position). This year marks the sixth straight year for Micron Technology, Inc. and the third straight year for Intel Corporation and Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. on the top ten list.

Canon Kabushiki Kaisha moves up from third to second position for the year, with 1,828 patents, while Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. drops from second to fourth position with 1,688 patents. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. moves from sixth position to fifth on the list while Hitachi, Ltd. remains in eighth position.

One new organization joins the top ten list for 2005, Fujitsu Limited, ranked tenth, while one organization, Sony Corporation, drops off the list.

Among the top twenty organizations receiving patents in 2005, Infineon Technologies AG, Microsoft Corporation, and Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Co., Ltd.) are new for the year.

Organizations on the top ten list having the largest increases in the number of annual patent receipts include Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (up 2 percent from 2004), Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (up 1 percent from 2004), and Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (up 1 percent from 2004).

The U.S. Government received 696 utility patents for the year, which would rank it twenty first among the top patenting organizations for 2005.

This table displays a preliminary listing of the top twenty non-Federal patenting organizations receiving utility patents in calendar year 2005. Patent receipts by the U.S. Government are also displayed.
Preliminary Rank in 2005 * | Preliminary number of patents in 2005 * | Organization * | (Final Rank in 2004) | (Final number of patents in 2004)
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
1 | 2,941 | International Business Machines Corporation | (1) | (3,248)
2 | 1,828 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | (3) | (1,805)
3 | 1,797 | Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (a) | (4) | (1,775)
4 | 1,688 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | (2) | (1,934)
5 | 1,641 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | (6) | (1,604)
6 | 1,561 | Micron Technology, Inc. | (5) | (1,760)
7 | 1,549 | Intel Corporation | (7) | (1,601)
8 | 1,271 | Hitachi, Ltd | (8) | (1,513)
9 | 1,258 | Toshiba Corporation | (9) | (1,311)
10 | 1,154 | Fujitsu Limited | (11) | (1,296)
11 | 1,135 | Sony Corporation | (10) | (1,305)
12 | 904 | General Electric Company | (14) | (976)
13 | 884 | Seiko Epson Corporation | (18) | (839)
14 | 787 | Infineon Technologies AG | (21) | (785)
15 | 763 | Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. | (12) | (1,217)
16 | 755 | Robert Bosch Gmbh | (16) | (903)
17 | 750 | Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd | (13) | (1,025)
18 | 746 | Microsoft Corporation | (29) | (629)
19 | 734 | Texas Instruments, Incorporated | (17) | (898)
20 | 698 | Honda Giken Kogyo K.K. (Honda Motor Co., Ltd.) | (23) | (736)
| 696 | U.S. GOVERNMENT |  | (829)

## Notes:

> * The listed patent counts are preliminary counts which are subject to correction. The final listing of patent counts for the top patenting organizations in 2005 will be available in the Patenting By Organizations report that should be available in early April.

> (a) Displayed calendar year counts for 2005 for Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. include 7 patents issued to Hewlett-Packard Company.

> 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.

> Unless noted, 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 that occur in corporate identifications.

## Contact Information -

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> U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
> Electronic Information Products Division - PTMB
> MDW 4C18, P.O. Box 1450
> Alexandria, VA 22313-1450

> tel: (571) 272-5600
> FAX: (571) 273-0110
> e-mail:oeip@uspto.gov

> address of PTMB pages at the USPTO Web Site: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/tafp.html
> ftp download of selected PTMB reports and materials from : ftp.uspto.gov/pub/taf/

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