Photo credit: Pam Roth
Companies and institutions from the US filed 44,855 applications in 2010, down 1.7% from last year, but enough to keep the top spot among all companies for a second straight year, according to data released yesterday by the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Next was Japan with 32,156 applications (plus 7.9%), followed by Germany’s 17,171 filings (a 2.2% gain). China, the No. 4, just filed 3,942 applications last year – but that was a plus of 56.2% compared to 2009.
Among companies, Panasonic has kept its top spot in 2010, having filed a total of 2,154 patent applications worldwide last year. Panasonic made a strong showing in a bunch of areas, for example “green” home appliances and lithium ion batteries.
Second place went to Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer ZTE, which jumped up from No. 22 last year after having filed with 1,863 applications. Qualcomm (1,677) was third in 2010, followed by Huawei (1,528), Philips (1,435), Robert Bosch (1,301), and LG Electronics (1,298).