The 2012 patent rankings just came in and the usual suspects all made it to the very top.
Research firm IFI revealed that Microsoft came in sixth in the list last year with 2,613 patents. This puts the Redmond technology company a fair bit ahead of rivals like Google (1,151 patents) and Apple (1,136 patents), which is no mean feat.
Microsoft retained the sixth position, as it raked up a total of 2,311 patents back in 2011 too.
The Sydney Morning Herald has carried the news story, and according to them the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a total of 253,155 patents last year.
The giant that goes by the name of IBM remained the top patent winner in the United States (just like in 2011) undoubtedly helped by its research operations in several other countries. In fact, Big Blue has been at the top of this innovative list for 20 straight years now.
IBM topped this elite list last year with 6,180 patents, a record which it has now broken this year with 6,478 patents granted — that is almost 18 patents a day. Very impressive!
The other five positions in the list are populated by consumer technology giants like Samsung, Canon, Sony and Panasonic, each raking up several thousand patents.
Strangely, if you look at the list above, a certain company by the name of Nokia is nowhere to be seen. Granted, the list only showcases the top 50 US patent winners of last year, but it nevertheless shows how the mighty have fallen.