M&A helps companies jump patent grant rank, Capital One soars
Acquisitions made by Broadcom and Commscope have helped the companies climb up the list of organisations which received the most patent grants in 2019, while IBM’s purchase of Red Hat has helped the company further secure its place at the top of the list.
Released yesterday, May 18, by the Intellectual Property Owners Association and law firm Harrity & Harrity, the 37th annual listing reports on the top 300 organisations granted US utility patents in 2019.
Unsurprisingly, IBM took the top spot with 9,477 patents granted last year, up 4% from 2018. Earlier this year, IFI Claims reported that IBM and Samsung led the pack in terms of US patent grants.
IBM’s acquisition of software company Red Hat (which was ranked 154th in 2018, with 199 patents), which closed in July last year, helped IBM “further” secure its place at the top of the list, according to the listing.
Elsewhere, acquisitions have helped companies move up the table. In 2018, Broadcom sat at 118th. Following its acquisition of software firm CA, Inc, Broadcom has jumped to the 84th spot.
Similarly, Commscope’s acquisition of telecoms company Arris helped the network infrastructure provider soar up the list from 133rd to 92nd.
Last year was a busy time for Capital One, with the financial company obtaining 625 patents, a more than 200% increase on the year before. This puts Capital One in the 79th position, up from 194th in 2018, with many of the company’s granted patents relating to cryptography and security.
Walmart also jumped up the listing, with its patent grants up by 115%, moving from the 256th spot to the 113th. While many of Walmart’s patents relate to business methods, such as incentive programmes, electronic shopping and cryptography, some of the patents fall into the computerised vehicle controls and robotics category.
In recent years, the retailer has moved into the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency areas.
Last year, WIPR reported that Walmart had filed a patent covering drone communications that use blockchain and had ventured into the cryptocurrency space with the filing of a patent application for a Walmart currency.
Alibaba has also been focusing on blockchain—in October 2018, the US Patent and Trademark Office published the Chinese e-commerce platform’s patent application for a blockchain solution that allows for third-party intervention where illegal activities have taken place.
In 2019, Alibaba took the 154th spot, up from the 227th, with 308 patents in 2019, compared with 141 patents in 2018.
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