Patents are overwhelmingly held by corporations. Over the decades, the share of patents assigned to companies has grown steadily, while individual inventors have become a smaller fraction. IBM leads all organizations in total patent grants.
Assignee Types Over Time
Share of utility patents by assignee category (primary assignee).
The Bayh-Dole Act (1980) enabled university patenting, but the dominant trend is the rise of corporate R&D as patent portfolios became strategic assets for licensing and competitive signaling.
The corporatization of patenting is one of the most striking long-term trends. In the late 1970s, individual inventors and government entities held meaningful shares of patent grants. Today, large corporations dominate overwhelmingly.
Patent-Holding Organizations
Ranked by total utility patents granted, 1976-2025.
The leaderboard reveals the global nature of US patent activity — Japanese and Korean electronics firms compete directly with American tech giants for the top positions.
The leaderboard is dominated by technology giants and Asian electronics firms. Companies like Samsung, Canon, and LG have risen dramatically since the 1990s, challenging the traditional dominance of American firms like IBM and General Electric.
The rank heatmap below reveals distinct eras of organizational dominance. Some firms have maintained top positions for decades, while others have risen rapidly or faded as their core technologies evolved.
US vs Foreign Assignees
Patents by US-based vs foreign-based primary assignees.
The convergence toward parity reflects the globalization of R&D. The US patent system serves as the de facto global standard for protecting high-value inventions regardless of assignee nationality.
Patent Concentration
Share of all corporate patents held by the top 10, 50, and 100 organizations, by 5-year period.
Despite new entrants, the patent landscape remains dominated by large, well-resourced organizations that invest systematically in R&D.
Citation Impact
Patent quantity alone does not capture an organization's true influence. Forward citationsforward citationsThe number of times a patent is cited by later patents. A widely used proxy for patent impact and technological importance. -- how often a firm's patents are cited by subsequent inventions -- reveal the impact and influence of their innovations.
Citation Impact by Organization
Average and median forward citations per patent for major patent holders. Limited to patents granted through 2020 for citation accumulation.
The gap between average and median citations distinguishes 'hit-driven' portfolios (high average, lower median) from consistently impactful innovators.
Technology Portfolios
The technology focus of major patent holders evolves over time. Some organizations have diversified their portfolios, while others have become more specialized. Select an organization below to see how its technology mix has shifted.
Technology Portfolio: Loading...
CPC technology section shares by 5-year period. Shows how the organization's innovation portfolio has evolved.
Rapid shifts in a firm's technology mix — like Samsung's pivot from mechanical to electronics — signal deliberate strategic reorientation of R&D investment.
Patent Portfolio Diversity
Are leading companies broadening or narrowing their innovation focus? We measure each organization's patent portfolio diversity using Shannon entropy across CPC technology subclasses. Higher entropy indicates a more diverse portfolio spanning many technology areas, while lower entropy signals specialization in a few domains.
Portfolio Diversity (Shannon Entropy) for Top Assignees
Shannon entropy across CPC subclasses per 5-year period. Higher values indicate broader technology portfolios.
The general upward trend in portfolio diversity suggests competitive advantage increasingly requires spanning multiple technology domains rather than deep specialization.
Collaboration Network Structure
How has the structure of innovation collaboration evolved? By analyzing co-inventor relationships as a network, we can measure how connected the innovation ecosystem is. The average degree (number of collaborators per inventor) and network density reveal whether innovation is becoming more or less collaborative over time.
Co-Invention Network Metrics by Decade
Summary statistics of the inventor collaboration network. Average degree measures the typical number of co-inventors per active inventor.
Rising average inventor degree reflects both larger team sizes and more extensive cross-organizational collaboration, creating a more interconnected innovation ecosystem.
Bridge Inventors
Some inventors serve as critical bridges connecting otherwise separate organizations and technology communities. These "bridge inventors" have patented at three or more distinct organizations, potentially transferring knowledge and practices between firms.
The Rise of Non-US Assignees
The national origin of US patent holders has shifted dramatically over 50 years. In the late 1970s, over 60% of US utility patents were granted to domestic assignees. By the 2020s, that share had fallen to roughly half, with the largest gains going to South Korean and Chinese assignees — particularly in electronics and telecommunications.
Patent Grants by Assignee Country/Region
Annual patent grants by primary assignee country/region, 1976–2025. Categories: United States, Japan, South Korea, China, Germany, Rest of Europe, Rest of World.
Japan drove the first wave of non-US patenting in the 1980s–90s, particularly in automotive and electronics. South Korea emerged strongly in the 2000s, while China's presence has grown rapidly since 2010 — primarily in telecommunications and computing.
Having explored the organizations driving patent activity, the next chapter turns to the individual inventors behind these patents. While corporations file the patents, it is the inventors -- their team structures, career trajectories, and demographic composition -- that ultimately determine the direction and quality of innovation.
Assignee data uses disambiguated identities from PatentsView. Primary assignee (sequence 0) is used to avoid double-counting patents with multiple assignees. Citation impact uses forward citations for patents granted through 2020. Co-patenting identifies patents with 2+ distinct organizational assignees. Portfolio diversity is measured using Shannon entropy across CPC subclasses per 5-year period. Network metrics are computed from co-inventor relationships on shared patents.