“As part of our innovation strategy, we remain an intellectual property powerhouse with one of the strongest patent portfolios in the United States, but our focus means that we are more selective in patenting. approach.” – IBM
This week, patent data analytics firm IFI CLAIMS released its annual report of the top 50 US patent holders for 2022 and the 250 largest patent portfolios in the world.
One of the most eye-catching details is that Samsung will take the first spot in US patent grants in 2022, ending IBM’s 29-year stint at the top. The gap between the two is also surprisingly large, with nearly 2,000 patents granted.
US patent grants were the lowest since 2018, despite a record number of patent filings, according to an IFI press release. Patent grants have fallen for his third consecutive year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nevertheless, the IFIs are observing a recovery trend, with patent grants only down 1% year-on-year, compared to a 7% decline in 2021.
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new number one
According to IBM’s blog, the change at the top is part of a shift in strategy and a shift in focus from the technology multinational.
Dario Gil, senior vice president and research director at IBM, said: .
IBM’s current focus is on “hybrid cloud, data and AI, automation, security, semiconductors and quantum computing.”
New leader Samsung posted a slight year-over-year decline of 2%, while IBM fell nearly 50%.
Samsung’s ranking marks the first time since 1993 that a company other than IBM holds the top spot overall.
More changes are likely in the future as patent offices work through the backlog of patent applications created by the pandemic.
“Continued growth of the application is encouraging for innovation. We expect to see a post-COVID turnaround in a few years,” said Baycroft.
Samsung also approached the number one spot on the IFI Global 250 list, which provides a snapshot of global patent holdings of top entities, including those held by subsidiaries. Samsung trails the Japanese company Panasonic by about 2,000 patents. The top 10 of this list consist exclusively of companies from Asia.
Japan has the largest number of companies on the Global 250 list, with 37% of companies, and a large lead over the United States (22%) in second place.
Asian tech growth
South Korean technology conglomerate Samsung’s rise to the top spot is part of the growing trend of innovation seen in Asia over the past decade.
In the IFI Top 50, Asian companies have 14% more patents than Western companies, significantly surpassing their 1% advantage in 2021.
Last year, the IFI noted that new insights into patent data gave China a clearer picture of patent numbers, part of the reason for the apparent big gains in the region.
After Samsung and IBM, the next top three US patent granters were also Asian companies. The top 10 consists of his five Asian companies: two from South Korea, two from Japan, and one from China.
In addition, 56% of US patent grants went to foreign companies. U.S. companies were the top patent holders with 142,703 patents, representing 44% of all patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), but the three largest foreign patents: Acquirers were from Asia: Japan (46,504), China (24,538) and South Korea (22,359).
China outperformed all other countries in the top five with an annual growth rate of 19%.
Many of the top US companies saw their rankings drop significantly. IBM lost the top spot, GE (-11), Texas Instruments (-7), AT&T (-9), Boeing (-8), Ford (-4), Microsoft (-6), Intel (-6). -2) ), and Apple (-2) all dropped in the rankings.
Fast-growing technology
In addition to monitoring company patent holdings, the IFI also tracks the fastest growing technology sectors by classifying patent filings.
The most surprising growth area for patent filings in 2022 was undoubtedly self-driving cars. With a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 64% for autonomous or self-driving car technology, this technology sector jumped from outside the top 10 to his number one spot.
Despite Toyota management’s skepticism that the technology will be introduced in the near future, Toyota leads the world in patent filings in this field.
The next top technologies include a variety of sectors, from high tech (quantum computers at 6th, machine learning at 9th) to smoking vices with both electronic smoking devices and cigarettes at 5th and 7th. increase.
Despite the USPTO’s recent emphasis on promoting green technology, renewable energy and green technology did not see significant growth in 2022.
In fact, technology related to drilling for oil, gas, or water scored third on the list.
“As far as patent activity is concerned, we have yet to see a shift towards renewable energy, and several rapidly growing sub-technological sectors are focused on improving conventional fossil fuel sources and harvesting them more efficiently. ,” said Baycroft.
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Author: Vector Guy
