Microsoft ranks No. 1 in patents |
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Microsoft's business is under attack by Google, Apple and others. But there's one place where the software giant still rules supreme: Patents. According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Microsoft's patent portfolio ranked the strongest in the software industry for the third straight year. According to the report, Microsoft was way out in front of its competition, with 2,918 patents granted last year. The next closest competitor in the software group was Oracle, which showed just 338 patents.
In a blog post, Microsoft's Bart Eppenauer wrote that the IEEE's ranking -- along with other recent surveys from Forbes and the Patent Scoreboard showing Microsoft' strong patent position -- indicates that the software giant's "focus on high-quality patent protection is working."
"Microsoft invests more than $9 billion annually in research and development, and the innovations that result from that R&D commitment are directly related to the quality of our patents," wrote Eppenauer. "We’ve expanded our patent filings in recent years to match the accelerating pace of breakthrough technology developed at Microsoft, and these filings are closely aligned with our strategic business goals."
In the Patent Scorecard, Microsoft was well out in front of Apple (ranked 12th) and Google (ranked 13th). It also edged out IBM, which ranked second, and Oracle, which ranked third.
The IEEE report also looked at patents emerging from the universities, with Washington state's biggest research institution doing particularly well. The UW ranked 5th in terms of the strength of its patent portfolio, behind the University of Texas, University of California, University of Central Florida and Iowa State.
In the biotech category, Seattle-based ZymoGenetics had a strong showing, ranking second behind Johnson & Johnson.
And emerging companies from the region also were singled out, with Redmond-based Microvision in the top 15 in the electronics category behind huge brands such as Hitachi, Sony, Kyocera and others. The IEEE report noted about Microvision:
It has particularly high-impact patents related to flat-panel optical displays and nonlinear optical materials (as reflected in its high Pipeline Impact score). The impact of these patents can be seen across a range of technologies, as reflected in Microvision’s high Pipeline Generality number.
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