Where’s Apple? Not on Top 25 Patent Holders List
Apple’s widely recognized as one of the most innovative technology companies of the last 20 years. However, its reputation took a serious hit today as it was revealed that the company that brought us the iMac, iPhone and iPod Touch was not among the list of Top 25 US Patent winners for 2007.
According to a list compiled by IFI Patent Intelligence (Wilmington, DE), the top patent winner in 2007 was IBM (with over 3,100 patents). Microsoft, which has taken its lumps in the last 12 months for an underwhelming Vista, came in at a healthy number six with over 1,600 patents. Other familiar names on the lists include Texa Instruments (#17), Honda (#19), Intel (#5)–but no AMD–, Samsung (#2) and Nokia (#22).
The IFI, which bases its ranking on the United States Patent and Trade Office’s own data, also reports a backlog of over 1 million patens. Perhaps Apple’s latest innovations–which we’re sure to see this week at Macworld, are buried in there.
Original post by Lance Ulanoff