IBM received a record 9,043 patents in 2017

[Shawn Knight]

IBM was awarded a record 9,043 patents in 2017, enough to stave off the competition and capture the top position for the 25^th consecutive year.

According to patent analytics firm IFI Claims, IBM hauled in 11 percent more patents during 2017 than it did in the previous year. More than 8,500 IBM researchers, engineers, designers and scientists received patents on the company’s behalf in 2017, spread across 47 different states and 47 countries around the globe.

Since 1993, IBM has earned more than 105,000 patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and CEO, said that nearly half of their parents are pioneering advancements in cloud computing, AI, cybersecurity, blockchain and quantum computing. More than 1,900 of IBM’s patents focused on cloud-based technology while 1,200 of the newly awarded patents deal with cybersecurity.

Samsung placed second overall with 5,837 grants in 2017, a year-over-year increase of five percent. Canon, Intel and LG Electronics round out the top five with 3,285, 3,023 and 2,701 patents received, respectively.

Patents may have a bad reputation due to misuse (think patent trolls and the like) but that’s not always the case. In fact, patents can be a solid indicator of a company’s progression as it relates to research and development and forging ahead with innovation.

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[senketsu]

A little OT, but a friend of mine (long gone) owned a WWII era M1 rifle. What blew my mind was that it was made by IBM. Thought it added a new twist to an International Business Machine

 

[mbrowne5061]

Its not just the trolling I have an issue with, it is their duration. Patents last too long. The original intent of the patent system was to encourage R&D by giving inventors and companies assurance that if they received a patent, they would have an artificial monopoly for a few years so they could recoup their costs and turn a little profit. These days, the patents aren't protections against someone reverse engineering your product and selling it at a fraction of the cost because they don't have an R&D investment to recover, the patents are revenue streams themselves.

The USPTO needs to curtail the duration of patents and a company's ability to license them, on top of increasing their standards for what should and should not qualify for a patent.

 

[Phoghat]

A little OT, but a friend of mine (long gone) owned a WWII era M1 rifle. What blew my mind was that it was made by IBM. Thought it added a new twist to an International Business Machine

In WW II everything was geared towards manufacture of hard goods. The US has not been a leader in manufacturing for a long time. Almost every one of IBM's patent are on ideas, where we still have an edge. They were smart to sell the Thinkpads to Lenovo in '95