Google and Facebook Down on Patent Rankings for 2018

Recent findings from patent research firm IFI Claims show that IBM has topped the rankings for granted applications for the 26th year running.

The corporation had 9,100 2018 grants, up 1% from 2017. It is the clear leader on this measure – second placed Samsung Electronics saw 5,850 patents granted (though Samsung Display Co. boasts an additional 1,900+, and adding in other subsidiaries do take Samsung into first place).

Canon, Intel and LG made up the top five, each having between 2,400 and 3,100 patents granted over the course of the year.

Microsoft came in seventh with 2,353, above Apple with 2,160 and Google with 2,070. All three saw fewer patents granted than in 2017, when the figures came in at 2,441, 2,229 and 2,457 respectively.

46% of patent applications came from the USA, compared to 31% from Asia. The overall number of patents granted had fallen 3.5% year-on-year.

Facebook lost its place in the top 50 this year, having made the ranking for the first time in 2017.

Tinder and Bumble have been embroiled in an intellectual property spat for several months, with the former’s parent company claiming its “world-changing” swipe-based interface was protected.

Late in 2018, a Western District of Texas judge rejected Bumble’s calls to dismiss the case. He said: “When a user performs the [swipe] gesture, the interface is modified to both show a new item of information and to automatically remove the first card. These innovations improve existing interface technology.”

Find the full ranking here.