AppleInsider Staff
Apple was granted a total of 1,135 patents in 2012, ranking it 21st among companies worldwide, up from 39th a year prior.
The inventions granted to Apple in the U.S. were ahead of noteworthy companies such as Texas Instruments, AT&T, Research in Motion and Sharp, according to data published Thursday by IFI Claims. The number of patents granted to Apple also represented a 68 percent increase from 2011, according to The New York Times.
Apple finished just behind rival Google, which won 1,151 patents in 2012 and took 21st place. And Samsung was in second place among all companies with 5,081 patents, more than four times Apple's haul.
Cracking the top ten was Apple manufacturing partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., otherwise known as Foxconn, which was awarded 2,013 patents last year, good for 8th place. Also among the top were Microsoft (2,613 patents, 6th) and Sony (3,032 patents, 4th).
Retaining the top spot once again was IBM, which was awarded 6,478 patents in 2012. Big Blue has now held the No. 1 position in intellectual property for 20 years.
Other noteworthy companies ahead of Apple were Broadcom (1,157 patents, 20th), Intel (1,290 inventions, 18th), Helwett-Packard (1,394 patents, 15th). The rankings were compiled using data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
In 2011, Apple was awarded 676 patents by the USPTO. That ranked it 39th among companies awarded inventions in the U.S.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
10 Comments
Innovate, don't litigate. But then again, all patents that Apple receives are invalid, sight unseen. So there you go.
I don't like some of the wording here. "Number of patents" isn't a race. It's also not fishing trawlers in the Bering Sea. I'd rather see 100 patents that change the course of human history than 5,000 patents, 90% of which are used for litigation.
And some people say Apple patents shouldn't be awarded.
Imagine what sort of things samsung tries to patent (5000 patents), but nobody gives a damn.
Only Apple matters.
And, sadly, judges will invalidate all 1,135 patents at some point in the future.
Early in January, Apple has received 71 new patents. The company is kicking it to high gear. I'm trying to figure out their patent totals. Latestpatents.com [via USPTO] shows 1293 patents granted for 2012 [if you add them up on your own].
I saw a recent article addressing this titled "Google beats Apple in Patents". Apparently they won the numbers game. Doooooomed!