Patent Share

Patent share is the percentage share of a universe of patents owned or created by one subset of that universe. This term usually applies to a comparative share between nations. Patent share has been subdivided not only across nations, but within industry groups and even in companies relative to each other. Patent share is becoming increasingly important to competitive advantage as the applicability of patents extends into information processes, computer software, chemical formulas and other intangibles.

For example, the United States had a worldwide patent share of 43% as of 2003. The United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) keeps track of the percentage of new patent issues that belong to every country on the globe, as well as the ratio of company-owned patents to those held by individuals. In 2015, about 52.8 percent of patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office were filed by foreign companies, meaning the the United States' patent share had increased to 47.2%. In 2016, a total of 76,737 new patents were granted to U.S. companies and more than 2.6 million existing patents were in force.

By examining industries that are growing their market shares in patent discoveries, investors can get a sense of the health and vibrancy of an industry. Industries such as technology, biotech and pharmaceuticals have seen the largest share gains in the past decade; they also show the highest annual growth rates.

As of 2017, IBM had 9,043 patents assigned to them at this time, making it the single corporation with the largest patent share in the world. IBM has held the first position in patent grants for 24 years in a row. Patents grant exclusionary rights to an invention - a product or process that is a solution to a specific technological problem. They can be seen as an indicator of innovation, to track rates of technological change or progress, or monitor the health of research and development. Patents are especially important in industries with high amounts of research & development (R&D) expenditure, such as technology, biotech, and pharmaceuticals. Currently, IBM is followed by Samsung Electronics (5,500 patents), Canon (3,600 patents), Qualcomm (2,900 patents), and Google (2,800 patents).

The Guinness Book of World Records currently names Shunpei Yamazaki as having more patents than any other single person. He has been granted 2,591 United States utility patents and has 9,700 worldwide patents, which is cumulative of more than 40 years of inventions.