IBM tops US patents in 2011

IBM has continued to top the US patent list for the 19th consecutive year and with this the company has broken the US patent record in the year 2011.

The company's inventors earned a record 6,180 US patents in 2011, more than quadrupling Hewlett-Packard's patents, and exceeding by six times those of Oracle/Sun.

IBM credits this feat to its more than 8,000 employees residing in 46 different US states and 36 countries for its record-breaking 2011 patent tally. IBM inventors who reside outside the US contributed more than 26 percent of the company's 2011 patents.

The top 10 US patent leaders include: IBM with 6,180 patents; Samsung with 4,894 patents; Canon holding 2,821 patents; Panasonic with 2,559 patents; Toshiba with 2,483 patents; Microsoft holding 2,311 patents; Sony with 2,286 patents; Seiko Epson with 1,533 patents; Hon Hai with 1,514 patents; and Hitachi with 1,465 patents.

''The inventions we patent each year deliver significant value to IBM, our clients and partners demonstrate a measurable return on our approximately $6 billion annual investment in research and development,'' said Ken King, GM, intellectual property and VP, research business development, IBM.

The patents received by IBMers in 2011 represent a range of inventions that enable new innovations and add significant value to the company's products, services, including smarter solutions for retail, banking, healthcare, transportation and other industries. These patented inventions also span a wide range of computing technologies poised to support a new generation of more cognitive, intelligent and insight-driven systems, processes and infrastructures for smarter commerce, shopping, medicine, transportation, and more.