Table 6-4
Top patenting corporations in United States: 1999, 2001, and 2003
 
Company Patents
1999  
International Business Machines 2,756
NEC 1,842
Canon 1,795
Samsung Electronics 1,545
Sony 1,417
Toshiba 1,200
Fujitsu 1,193
Motorola, Inc. 1,192
Lucent Technologies 1,163
Mitsubishi Denki 1,054
2001
International Business Machines 3,411
NEC 1,953
Canon 1,877
Micron Technology, Inc. 1,643
Samsung Electronics 1,450
Matsushita Electric Industrial 1,440
Sony 1,363
Hitachi 1,271
Mitsubishi Denki 1,184
Fujitsu 1,166
2003
International Business Machines 3,415
Canon 1,992
Hitachi 1,893
Matsushita Electric Industrial 1,774
Micron Technology 1,707
Intel Corporation 1,592
Koninklijke Philips Electronics 1,353
Samsung Electronics 1,313
Sony 1,311
Fujitsu 1,302
 

SOURCE: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Office of Electronic Information Products, Patent Technology Monitoring Division, special tabulations (November 2004).

 
Science and Engineering Indicators 2006