Which are the most significant patents?

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2026

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Which are the most significant patents?

We want to know which patents readers think have been the most important: send us your suggestions online, by email or on social media

Nominations can be in any technological field, and from any jurisdiction. Note that we are not necessarily looking for the most significant inventions, but for the most significant patents

Reasons for nomination could include:

  • The patent protected the sales of a particularly valuable product (such as a blockbuster drug).

  • The patent was widely licensed, enabling many different products and earning significant royalties.

  • The patent was successfully enforced in court and/or ADR (leading, for example, to remedies such as large damages).

  • The patent was widely cited and influential on later developments in the field.

You can nominate any number of patents, and they can be active or expired. Where possible, please provide a few sentences explaining why you have nominated each patent.

You can make nominations in the following ways:

We will make a final selection of the most significant patents from the nominations received, and will publish an analysis of each one in a future issue.



more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

There are some impressive AI tools available for trademark lawyers, but law firm leaders say humans can still outthink the bots
Lawyers at Simmons & Simmons look ahead to a UK Supreme Court hearing in which the court will consider whether English courts can determine FRAND terms when the licence is offered by an intermediary rather than an SEP owner
Firm says appointment of Jeremy Drew from RPC will help create ‘unrivalled IP powerhouse’, as it looks to shore up IP offering ahead of merger
Law firms are expanding their ITC practices to account for the venue’s growing popularity, and some are seeing an opportunity to collaborate with M&A teams
Erise IP has added a seven-practitioner trademark team from Hovey Williams, signalling its intention to help clients at all stages of development
News of prison sentences for ex-Samsung executives for trade secrets violation and an opposition filed by Taylor Swift were also among the top talking points
A multijurisdictional claim filed by InterDigital and a new spin-off firm in Germany were also among the top talking points
Duarte Lima, MD of Spruson & Ferguson’s Asia practice, says practitioners must adapt to process changes within IP systems, as well as be mindful of the implications of tech on their practices
Practitioners say the UK Supreme Court’s decision could boost the attractiveness of the UK for AI companies
New awards, including US ‘Firm of the Year’ and Latin America ‘Firm to Watch’, are among more than 90 prizes that will recognise firms and practitioners
Gift this article