IBM registers 5,896 patents in 2010, Apple debuts in the top 50 patent holders

In the past year 2010, IBM registered more patents than any other US company and ranked first in this indicator for the 18th consecutive year.
The corporation obtained the rights to 5,896 patents in the past 2010; reports about this agency IFI Claims Patent Services. Samsung Electronics is in second place with 4,551 patents. Microsoft became third (3,094 patents), followed by Canon (2,552), Panasonic (2,482), Toshiba (2,246), Sony (2,150), Intel (1,653), LG Electronics (1,490) and HP (1,480).

The top ten has not changed much compared to the figures of 2009. Only in ninth place is the new representative: LG Electronics has shifted the last year. 9 - Seiko Epson Corp.

According to IFI (a division of Fairview Research), IBM is the first company in the world that managed to get more than 5,000 patents in one year. In 2009, IBM's "catch" was 4,914. Today, IBM spends about $ 6 billion on Research & Development (just recall the analytical staff of 500 mathematicians and 8,000 analytics and optimization consultants).
By the way, to get the first 5,000 patents in its history (which began in 1911), it took the inventors in IBM about 50 years.
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In the top 50 companies on the basis of the issue for the first time entered the corporation Apple. With 563 patents acquired, the apple company ranked 46th in the ranking ... Also among the well-known technology-related companies, Cisco (17th and 1,115 patents) and SAP (42 and 649) are on the list.

In total, in 2010 the US Patent and Trademark Agency issued 219,614 patents, which is 31% more than in 2009.