IBM was awarded the most patents in 2018, but overall grants declined by 3.5 percent
Patent research firm IFI Claims today published its annual report on how patent grants played out in the tech industry in the past year, and it’s a mixed picture as well.
It found that IBM has once again, for the 26th year running, topped the list, with 9,100 patents, followed by Samsung, Canon, Intel and LG — also the same top five as a year ago.
Forty-six percent of all applications came from the US, with Asia accounting for 31 percent and the US for 15 percent.
But overall, the number of patents granted in 2018 dropped 3.5 percent over 2017, with many a company in the top 50 showing declines in their grants.
Notable declines included
Sony (ranking at 15) down 21 percent;
Google (number 11) down 16 percent,
Qualcomm (number 8) down 12 percent.
Facebook, which last year made it into the top 50 for the first time, dropped out of the shortlist altogether.
On the other hand, companies out of China on average saw overall gains across their patent portfolios.
TechCrunch