Article by Partner Bruce S. Itchkawitz, Ph.D.; originally published at OCTechInnovation.com on January 13, 2015.

Orange County companies were awarded 3,520 U.S. patents in 2014, which is an increase of 12.1% from 2013, and is about twice as many that were awarded in 2008.

Orange County outperformed the overall U.S. patent grants, which only increased by 7.7% in 2014 over 2013.  These Orange County numbers reverse a trend during the previous two years in which Orange County lagged the percentage increase in the overall U.S. patent grants, and they reverse a trend in which the year-to-year Orange County percentage increase declined over the previous four years.

As always, the Orange County numbers are heavily weighted by Broadcom Corp., which again received about one-third of the U.S. patents issued in 2014 in Orange County.  The next-largest patent recipient in Orange County, Western Digital, saw an impressive 130% increase of its U.S. patents granted in 2014 over 2013, while the third-largest patent recipient, Allergan, saw a 3.6% decrease from the past year.

For comparison, the following list tallies the numbers of U.S. patents received by Orange County’s “Top Ten” patenting companies in 2014, along with the percentage increase or decrease from the 2013 numbers:

·   Broadcom: 1202; +11.4%

·    Western Digital: 368; +130%

·    Allergan: 189; -3.6%

·    BSH Home Appliance: 60; +5.3%

·    AMO: 55; -22.5%

·    Edwards Lifesciences: 53; +23%

·    Masimo: 42; +35.5%

·     NetLogic: 41; +13.9%

·     Oakley: 32; +10.3%

·     Applied Medical Resources: 26; -18.8%