For the first time in almost 30 years, a company other than IBM received the most US patents

More crumbling of the company happening under AK's watch.

https://qz.com/for-the-first-time-in-almost-30-years-a-company-other-1850534582

By: Annalisa Merelli
Published: Tuesday 3:29PM

It might not be as cool as Apple or as talked-about as Tesla, but for nearly three decades, one company has been synonymous with American innovation: IBM.

That isn’t an opinion. From 1993 to 2021, no other company received more US patents than the Armonk, New York–based tech giant. But in 2022, Samsung surpassed it, winning 6,248 patents. IBM, which placed second, received 4,398, according a ranking compiled by patent data platform IFI.

Both of those figures pale in comparison with the numbers posted by IBM in previous years. In 2021, the company received 8,681 US patents, nearly twice as many as in 2022—almost 24 per day. But that, too, was a decline. In 2020, IBM won 9,130 patents; in 2019, it received 9,262. Overall, the descent looks dramatic.

Samsung also experienced a decline in US patents compared to 2021 (6,366) and 2020 (6,415), showing just how far ahead of the competition IBM had been until 2021, and just how much it fell.

A geopolitical picture of innovation

The number of patents also offers a snapshot of geopolitical innovation trends. Samsung’s success in 2022 shows the growing importance of Korean technology on a global scale. LG, which is also Korean, ranked sixth, and Samsung Display, a separate business from Samsung, finished 13th.

https://twitter.com/stats_feed/status/1668329462159507496

When IBM topped the US yearly patent ranking in 1993, it was the first American company to do so since 1985. When it comes to innovation, the years 1986–92 were dominated by Japanese companies. In 1991, Canon received the most US patents; in 1992, the winner was Toshiba.

Asian companies continue to lead in innovation. In the 2022 ranking for the most US patents, Samsung and IBM are followed by Taiwan Semiconductor, Huawei, and Canon as well as LG. Qualcomm, Intel, and Apple, the other three American companies in the top 10, ranked seventh or lower.

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TO @fer "dinobabiesb" comment: 9/10 of my (former) project were 50's-60's .
ALL were hard working and brilliant.
One reason my boss ONLY hired that way.

While there are certainly "dinobabiesb" out there - it's not the rule nor can it be generalized.

In fact my new company is similar - 4/6 are 50s-60s and all very senior.
Same reason. Value and work ethic and skills for the money.

I've always chaffed and tired at IBM's "Patent the World". I mean FU-K YOU.
I had a LOT of patent disclosures and patents at a previous company - all field/tech related.
I REFUSED to "Patent the world" as IBM wanted. That's just bullsh-t greedy.

I discussed this with some Master Inventors (Really a low rung on that totem) and they had the cool-aide hard on "but it's just so people don't come after IBM"

When I'd seen first hand IBM come after several startups and small companies.

- here's 50 (utility) patents we believe (i.e. you and anybody else are probably using)
- ah, care to fight? Here's 50 more (ad naseum)

So IBM truly was a patent predator. Not quite like some voracious ones - but they DID go after any tech startup or small company to soak $$$ from them.

I've been part of some prime theoretical patents that can barely be thought of as valuable I.P. due to being part of a business division where that was incorrectly awarded.
In an iteration of this patent...I could turn water into wine! Glad to be out of IBM and the redundant B.S. brigade.

Link to a graph embedded in the article showing patents issued to IBM by year:

https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/coLgA/3/

Dollars to doughnuts that a graph of the attrition (RAs, voluntary departures, etc.) of Advisory, Senior, STSM, and higher engineers over the last ~3 years would map exactly to the decline in patents, thus proving a direct impact of the hemorrhaging of knowledge and talent .

I agree. A lot of the patents I saw people file when I were there were bs.

AK specifically said we're not going to chase patents anymore. The bulk of the patents they were filing weren't relevant in anyway to the business. I'm glad this will cut down on the amount of 'Proud to be awarded a patent' posts on linkedin. Probably one of the few business decisions AK's gotten right.

"Overall, the descent looks dramatic."

And apparently obvious to almost everyone except pre-natal IBMers who have zero clues as to what they're getting into when they choose "Big Blue." Boy, it's a good thing IBM got rid of all the dinobabies! /s/

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For the first time in almost 30 years, a company other than IBM received the most US patents

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