The Thomson Reuters IP Market Report compares the growth in published and granted patents from 2003 to 2008/9 in three areas: algae; cell phone data/wireless network roaming and lab-on-a-chip nanotechnology.
The report found that the number of patents on cell phone/computing convergence increased from 8,705 in 2003 to 25,283 in the first quarter of 2009, with the biggest growth coming from cell phone/wireless patents.
During the period January 2008 to April 2009, the most active company was Korea’s Samsung, with 3.94% of documents. Four other Asian companies – LG Electronics, NEC, SK Telecom and Kyocera – featured in the top 10, alongside Microsoft, Qualcomm and Motorola of the US, Nokia of Finland and Research in Motion of Canada.
The number of patents for lab-on-a-chip systems (which integrate several lab functions on a single tiny chip) more than doubled between 2003 and 2008, while the total number of bio-related nanotech patents increased from 4,611 to 9,842 in the same period.
Of the top 11 companies filing these patents, nine are from Japan, with Seiko Epson leading the way with 18.49% of documents.
Nikon is ranked number 2, followed by Toppan Printing at number 3 and Samsung of Korea at number 4.
In another hot area, biofuels based on algae, the trend was slightly different. While the number of patents increased from three in 2003 to 92 in 2008, no company dominates the field.
Top spot in the list of most active companies for 2008 is shared by companies from the US, UK and Brazil, who each have two documents.
However, the study found that 31% of biofuel patents were filed in China in the period January 2008 to April 2009.
Data for the report comes from Thomson Reuters’ Derwent World Patents Index.
