More than half of U.S. patents awarded to foreign companies in 2008, report finds

Foreign companies earned the majority of patents issued by the United States in 2008, although a U.S. company – IBM – remained the top individual patent winner while becoming the first company to get more than 4,000 new patents in one year.

Fifty-one percent of new patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office were awarded to companies from outside the United States, according to an annual report by IFI Patent Intelligence. That was a slight shift over the previous year in which patents were split 50-50 between U.S. and non-U.S. companies.

"Although IBM still tops the list and is ahead by a relatively wide margin, the scales of patent-quantity supremacy may be shifting away from corporate America in favor of companies overseas, especially to those in Asia," IFI states. "The U.S. holds only four … of the top 10 slots, down from five the prior year. American firms also hold only 12 positions in the top 35, which collectively generated 26% of all the utility patents granted in 2008."

IBM earned 4,186 patents, while Samsung came in second with 3,515. There was a big drop to third-place Canon, which earned 2,114, and fourth-place Microsoft, which earned 2,030. The rest of the top 10 were Intel, Matsushita, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Sony, and HP, who earned between 1,400 and 1,800 patents each.

Overall, 157,774 patents were issued in calendar year 2008, about 500 more than the prior year.

Japanese companies earned 23% of patents and held five of the top 10 slots and 14 of the top 35. The rest of the top five countries are Germany, South Korea and Taiwan, who combined for 15% of new patents.

While U.S. companies slipped in total percentage, IFI noted that "it's important not to confuse quantity with quality."

The recession probably did not substantially affect 2008 patent numbers because many of those awarded were applied for in 2005 and 2006. There was actually a 6% increase in patent applications in fiscal 2008, but IFI nonetheless says the recession could impact patent approvals sometime in the next few years.

1.2 million patent applications are pending approval, continuing the growing backlog observed over the past two decades.