We are pleased to share the latest from our friends at PatentDocs.org, the Biotech and Pharma Patent Law and News Blog. The authors, Donald Zuhn and Kevin Noonan, are partners at McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff, LLP, and contribute to Patent Docs on a daily basis.
Today’s post is entitled, “IPO Releases List of Top 300 Patent Holders for 2011,” and it reports on the Intellectual Property Owners Association’s recent annual list of the top 300 organizations receiving the most U.S. patents. The article notes that the USPTO stopped releasing an annual list of top patent recipients so as to “discourag[e] any perception that we believe more is better.” It also takes a closer look at the role life sciences companies and organizations play as top patent holders on the IPO’s list.
Here is an excerpt:
The IPO compiled its list by counting the number of utility patents granted during 2011 that listed an organization or a subsidiary as the owner on the printed patent. The IPO noted that if an assignment to an organization or its subsidiary was recorded after the patent was printed, the patent was not counted, and further, that patents which were granted to two or more organizations jointly were attributed to the organization listed first on the patent. The IPO also noted that 244,430 patents were issued in 2011, which was an increase from the 233,127 patents that issued in 2010. The top fifteen companies on the IPO Top 300 are listed below (click on table to expand):
Tags: Intellectual Property Owners Association, IPO, patent holders, top 300 patent holders
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