Last month, the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) and Harrity Analytics announced the release of the 39th annual list of the top 300 organizations receiving U.S. utility patents (see "Top 300 Organizations Granted U.S. Patents in 2021"). Patent Docs readers may recall that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office stopped releasing its annual list of top patent recipients in 2006 in order to "discourag[e] any perception that we believe more is better."
As with the 2020 report, the 2021 report was compiled in collaboration with Harrity Analytics, based on data obtained from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The IPO and Harrity Analytics noted that patents reported on the 2021 list are utility patents granted during the 2021 calendar year that listed the organization or a subsidiary as the owner on the printed patent document. Harrity Analytics then used organization and subsidiary data provided to two independent third-party data providers and reviewed over 200,000 assignments to attribute ownership to the correct organizations, where applicable. The report notes that patents that were granted to two or more organizations jointly are attributed to each organization separately, and that companies for which patents were granted to subsidiaries are combined with patents granted to the parent.
The IPO and Harrity Analytics also noted that 327,798 patents were issued in 2021, down nearly 7% from the 352,469 patents that issued in 2020. The top fifteen companies on the Top 300 are listed below (click on table to expand):
Dell Technologies, General Electric Co., and Alphabet Inc. fell out of the Top 15 in 2021. Dell Technologies dropped from 12th to 16th, General Electric Co. dropped from 14th to 21st, and Alphabet Inc. dropped from 15th to 17th in 2021. Jumping into the Top 15 were Qualcomm (17th to 12th), BOE Technology Group (18th to 14th), and Amazon.com, Inc. (16th to 15th).
As in past years, Patent Docs used the IPO's list of top patent holders to compile a list of the top "life sciences" companies and organizations receiving U.S. utility patents in 2021. Each organization's top 300 ranking for 2021 is indicated in the "2021 IPO Rank" column; the top 300 ranking for 2020 (if available) is indicated in the "2020 IPO Rank" column; and the change in number of patents from 2020 is indicated in "% Change from 2020." The Life Sciences Top 55 is listed below (click on table to expand):
Please note that some of the companies and organizations listed above may be involved in work outside the life sciences sector, and therefore, a portion of the patents granted to these companies and organizations may be directed to other than life sciences-related inventions. Our list also includes medical device companies.
For additional information regarding this topic, please see:
• "IPO & Harrity Analytics Release List of Top 300 Patent Holders for 2020," February 18, 2021
• "IPO & Harrity Analytics Release List of Top 300 Patent Holders for 2019," May 20, 2020
• "IPO Releases List of Top 300 Patent Holders for 2018," August 7, 2019
• "IPO Releases List of Top 300 Patent Holders for 2017," July 4, 2018
• "IPO Releases List of Top 300 Patent Holders for 2016," June 14, 2017
• "IPO Releases List of Top 300 Patent Holders for 2014," July 1, 2015
• "IPO Releases List of Top 300 Patent Holders for 2013," July 7, 2014
• "IPO Releases List of Top 300 Patent Holders for 2012," June 24, 2013
• "Another Look at IPO Top 300 and Life Sciences Top 53," June 11, 2012
• "IPO Releases List of Top 300 Patent Holders for 2011," June 7, 2012
• "IPO Releases List of Top 300 Patent Holders for 2010," June 30, 2011
• "IPO Releases List of Top 300 Patent Holders for 2009," May 26, 2010
• "IPO Releases List of Top 300 Patent Holders for 2008," May 14, 2009
• "IPO Releases List of Top 300 Patent Holders," May 22, 2008
• "IPO Posts List of Top 300 Patent Holders," April 20, 2007