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Monday January 14, 2008
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Apple's widely recognized as one of the most innovative technology companies of the last 20 years. However, its reputation took a serious hit today as it was revealed that the company that brought us the iMac, iPhone and iPod Touch was not among the list of Top 25 US Patent winners for 2007.
According to a list compiled by IFI Patent Intelligence (Wilmington, DE), the top patent winner in 2007 was IBM (with over 3,100 patents). Microsoft, which has taken its lumps in the last 12 months for an underwhelming Vista, came in at a healthy number six with over 1,600 patents. Other familiar names on the lists include Texa Instruments (#17), Honda (#19), Intel (#5)--but no AMD--, Samsung (#2) and Nokia (#22).
The IFI, which bases its ranking on the United States Patent and Trade Office's own data, also reports a backlog of over 1 million patens. Perhaps Apple's latest innovations--which we're sure to see this week at Macworld, are buried in there.
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January 14, 2008 11:11 AM
Oh come on... seriously? I'm disappointed to see anything but criticism of this "their rep took a hit" meme.
Is the sheer quantity of patents really what's important? That sounds absolutely ridiculous to me. Did anyone stop to think that perhaps the QUALITY (actual merit) of the patents is more important? Certainly we all know that Apple files plenty of patents. It's not like they're "slacking" and only filed five last year or something... I mean c'mon.
Here's a thought: maybe Apple actually believes in the patent system and only files for patents it actually deserves, instead of trying to drown the USPTO in meritless patents like IBM seems to.
January 14, 2008 11:44 AM
Rich, you're right. What's important here is the quality.
January 14, 2008 12:42 PM
hey rich,
i think it's less apple's concern for the quality of the patent--in the past they've filed some fairly questionable stuff--and more that the company just doesn't have the sheer product output of a company like samsung.
January 14, 2008 12:44 PM
That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read. Personally I would rather have 5 of Apples patents/products than Microsoft's 1,600 crappy ones!
Some people will try to find anyway they can to make Apple look bad or like they are not doing so good. It's really hilarious when you look at Apple's success and compare it to Microsoft's weak products. The only thing Microsoft has going for it is that they got a majority of people using their OS first, it's certainly not their great products (Zune the iPod killer LOL). Ohhh "The Social" haha.
January 14, 2008 1:39 PM
Steve Jobs think about patents ? Will he have a new product 1/15/08 or more movies to put on the Net ?. One great product Patent is worth much more than 1'600 crappy ones IMO
January 14, 2008 1:47 PM
sorry, my sarcasm detector is on the fritz this morning. are you being serious? of course he cares about patents. apple's one of the most lawsuit eager tech companies around.
January 14, 2008 9:31 PM
here are some additional facts on IBM's leadership in 'innovation'
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/20868.wss
15 years straight as the number one in patents awarded - Even Apple has used the Power PC technolology IBM helped devolop - currently the cell technology used (applied) within the PS3. Amazing - the differences between consumer technology vs. B2B.
January 16, 2008 3:07 AM
Read carefully, gents. The number of patents filed as compared to BEFORE. Look at Apple's disappointing performance this year in terms of new product releases...NOTHING REVOLUTIONARY! Their stock prices are down 5%. It shows they really were slacking off. Now compare this to their performance back in 2006 and before. Major difference, they were among the top 25 patent holders.
Dunno...but I think Steve Jobs is getting a little lazy...and to drive the point home: I truly do believe the number of patents a company files a year is a strong (but not necessarily the sole) indicator of a company's innovative or tendencies or lack thereof.
June 29, 2008 1:19 AM
Name recognition and branding is probably more important in today's age than patents. With the web nothing is sacred everything is ripped off.