IAM Market vendors represent the full range of patent owners, from major portfolio owners to smaller, industry-focused rights holders
Last week, the US Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) published its annual ranking of the top 300 entities that were granted the most patents by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in the past year.
Readers familiar with the patent market will likely not be surprised to learn that IBM has topped the list – as it has done for much of the past three decades. ‘Big Blue’ was awarded 7,440 US patents in 2015 – a drop of 0.5% from its 2014 haul.
Second place was taken by South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, which was issued 5,059 patents (+2.5% on 2014), while in third was Canon of Japan, which received 4,239 (+1.6%).
So – where did IAM Market’s vendors appear in the list?
The table below shows the respective rankings of each company offering patents for sale or licensing on IAM Market at the time of writing and appearing in the IPO top 300:
| Rank | Assignee | Country | Main industry sector | Patents granted 2015 | Change from 2014 |
| 5 | United States | Internet | 3,195 | 10.9% | |
| 8 | Intel | United States | Semiconductors | 2,625 | 33.6% |
| 10 | Sony | Japan | Electronics | 2,448 | -23.8% |
| 23 | Hewlett Packard* | United States | Information technology | 1,452 | -11% |
| 26 | AT&T | United States | Telecommunications | 1,303 | -31.3% |
| 36 | Philips | Netherlands | Electronics | 992 | 7.2% |
| 38 | Boeing | United States | Aerospace | 975 | 7% |
| 41 | NXP | Netherlands | Semiconductors | 967 | 147.9% |
| 43 | Xerox | United States | Printing technology’ business process services | 936 | -15.3% |
| 52 | NEC | Japan | Information technology | 773 | -39.2% |
| 72 | Foxconn** | Taiwan | Electronics | 573 | -13.8% |
| 171 | Stryker | United States | Medical devices | 194 | 13.5% |
| 198 | Rambus | United States | Semiconductors | 165 | 22.2% |
| 264 | Rovi*** | United States | Entertainment technology/software | 119 | New entry |
*Hewlett Packard split into two separate companies – HP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise – on November 1 2015. Both companies are vendors on IAM Market.
**IAM Market vendor MiiCs is the patent monetisation affiliate of Foxconn and its subsidiaries. The IPO ranking given here relates to Hon Hai Precision Industry; other Foxconn affiliates, including Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry, are ranked separately.
***Rovi announced in April 2016 that it will merge with competitor TiVo in a $1.1 billion deal.
The two remaining IAM Market vendors unaccounted for on the IPO list are Deutsche Telekom and Harman International. Likely due to the nature of their businesses and the industries in which they operate, these two companies generally file for fewer patents than those that appear on the IPO ranking. (The minimum count of 107 was achieved jointly by Ecolab, Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Toyoda Gosei and Z124.)
About IAM Market
IAM Market is an online marketplace that brings together people who see the commercial value of IP and technology and want to do business together. This online portal allows IP owners to profile their licensing and sales operations and technology transfer programmes, as well as provide details of specific rights that they are interested in transacting. IAM Market is part of IAM, the leading content platform that focuses on how intellectual property can be used to create corporate value– which is a brand within Globe Business Media's Intellectual Property division. For more information, please contact Katleen Richardson, krichardson@globebmg.com