Companies With the Most Patents: 2024 U.S. Rankings

The companies with the most patents vary depending on the year, jurisdiction, patent type, and treatment of subsidiaries. The ranking below compares U.S. utility patents granted during 2024, then explains how to investigate a company's broader portfolio.

Key Takeaways

• Samsung Electronics received the most U.S. utility patents in the 2024 ranking, with 6,377 grants.
• TSMC, Qualcomm, Apple, and Huawei completed the top five.
• Annual grant rankings do not measure total active patents, worldwide holdings, applications, patent quality, or licensing revenue.
• Subsidiaries, acquisitions, spelling differences, and changes in assignee names can materially affect a company's reported count.
• A patent assignment must be in writing, but USPTO recordation is different from legal validity and does not prove ownership by itself.
• You can search a company's patents and recorded ownership documents through free USPTO tools.

Companies With the Most Patents in 2024

The following table shows the top 10 organizations in IFI CLAIMS Patent Services' 2024 ranking of U.S. utility patent recipients. IFI compiles the ranking from patent grants published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The numbers represent patents granted during one calendar year, not every patent each company owns.

This list reflects technologies receiving U.S. protection, even when the patent owner is headquartered elsewhere. Semiconductor, telecommunications, consumer electronics, automotive, and software businesses appear prominently because they regularly protect incremental technical developments. You can compare annual lists with the patent-owner materials published by the Intellectual Property Owners Association at IPO.org and verify individual records through the USPTO.

Why Rankings Identify Different Patent Leaders

A company can rank first on one patent list and much lower on another without either list being wrong. Before comparing rankings, check the metric, reporting period, jurisdiction, and rules for grouping related companies.

• Annual grants: These rankings count patents issued during a defined year. They measure recent grant activity rather than the owner's complete portfolio.
• Applications: Application rankings count requests for protection, including applications that may remain pending, become abandoned, or never produce a patent. Publication timing can also affect the apparent total.
• Active holdings: Portfolio rankings attempt to count patents that remain in force. Results depend on how the provider handles expiration, maintenance fees, patent families, and ownership changes.
• Worldwide portfolios: Global lists combine records from multiple patent offices. Counting every national member of a patent family produces a different result from counting the underlying invention once.
• Patent influence: Some rankings use citations, geographic coverage, remaining life, or other indicators instead of raw volume.

Company structure creates another major difference. One source may count only grants issued directly to a parent corporation. Another may combine subsidiaries and controlled affiliates. A merger or acquisition can move thousands of patents into an expanded corporate group without creating new inventions.

IBM illustrates why a reporting year matters. It received 8,088 U.S. utility patents in IFI's 2016 ranking, placing it first that year. Samsung led the 2024 ranking. Neither annual result, by itself, establishes which organization owns the world's largest current portfolio.

Patent Company Meaning and Types of Patent Companies

A patent company name in a database usually means the company appears as an applicant, assignee, or owner. It does not necessarily mean the organization exists only to hold patents. Operating companies such as manufacturers, software developers, and pharmaceutical businesses commonly own patents covering products they develop or acquire.

Several types of organizations may appear in ownership records:

• Operating companies develop or sell products and use patents to protect related technology.
• Patent holding companies hold intellectual property separately from operating assets, sometimes for licensing or administrative purposes.
• Licensing firms generate revenue by granting others permission to practice patented inventions.
• Non-practicing entities own patents but do not manufacture products covered by them.
• Patent assertion entities acquire or hold patents primarily to seek licenses or enforce patent rights.

These categories can overlap, and the label does not establish that a company's conduct is lawful or improper. You must examine its ownership, agreements, products, licensing practices, and enforcement activity.

Do not confuse a patent with protection for a company name. Patents protect qualifying inventions, while trademarks may protect names and other source identifiers. If your concern involves branding, review the distinction between a legal business name and a DBA and the separate rules governing company name trademark infringement.

How to Search U.S. Patents by Company

Free USPTO resources let you search published patent documents and recorded assignments. Begin with the company's exact legal name, but do not stop there. A portfolio may be divided among subsidiaries, predecessor businesses, acquired companies, and dedicated intellectual property entities.

1. Identify legal names. Review corporate records, product materials, and transaction documents for the parent, subsidiaries, former names, and acquired businesses.
2. Search patent documents. Use the USPTO's patent search resources to search assignee or applicant fields. Narrow the results by date, inventor, technology classification, or keywords when necessary.
3. Try name variations. Search abbreviations, punctuation changes, former names, and common spelling variations. Older records may not use the company's current name.
4. Review each document. Confirm the named applicant or assignee, filing date, grant date, inventors, patent status, and related applications.
5. Check assignment records. Search recorded transfers to determine whether a later assignment, merger, security interest, or name change appears in the public record.
6. Investigate gaps. A missing or inconsistent transfer may require examination of purchase agreements, employment agreements, and other private documents.

The patent document and assignment record answer different questions. A patent may identify the assignee at issuance, while a later recorded document may show a transfer. The USPTO record also may not contain every transaction affecting ownership. For a closer explanation of the search process, see how to use the USPTO patent assignment database.

Patent Assignment and Company Ownership

Inventors initially hold rights in their inventions unless an enforceable agreement or other applicable legal rule transfers those rights. Companies commonly address ownership through employment agreements, invention assignment provisions, acquisition documents, and separate assignments covering identified applications or patents.

Under federal patent law, an assignment must be in writing. The document should clearly identify the parties, the relevant patent or application, and the rights being transferred. Precise language matters because an assignment transfers ownership, while a license ordinarily grants permission to use rights without changing ownership.

Notarization is not a general requirement for every valid patent assignment. An acknowledgment can provide evidentiary benefits, however, and transaction documents may impose additional signing formalities. Parties also should not assume that USPTO recordation determines whether an assignment is valid. Recordation provides public notice and may protect the assignee against a later purchaser or mortgagee under the federal priority rules. It does not replace a complete chain-of-title review.

Joint ownership adds another concern. Unless the owners have agreed otherwise, each joint owner may generally practice or license the patent without accounting to the others. Enforcement can be more difficult because all owners ordinarily must participate in an infringement action. A written co-ownership agreement can address licensing, enforcement, expenses, and sale rights. More detail is available in this overview of transferring patent rights through an assignment.

If you need to confirm ownership, acquire a portfolio, or transfer company patent rights, you can post your legal need on UpCounsel's marketplace. A patent attorney can conduct ownership due diligence, review employment and acquisition agreements, resolve chain-of-title gaps, draft an assignment or license, and handle appropriate USPTO recordation. Responses typically arrive within a day.

How Companies File and Build Patent Portfolios

A company seeking patent protection starts by identifying an invention, documenting its inventors, and determining who owns the resulting rights. It then evaluates patentability, business value, disclosure risks, and the countries where protection may be useful.

Patent application support can include a prior-art search, invention disclosure review, claim drafting, preparation of drawings, filing, and responses to USPTO examination. A utility patent application generally must describe the invention in enough detail to enable a person skilled in the relevant field to make and use it. Its claims define the legal scope being requested.

Companies often use portfolio committees to decide which inventions justify filing costs. The committee may consider whether the invention supports a product, blocks a competitor, creates licensing opportunities, or strengthens the company's position in a cross-license. Businesses also review existing patents and may stop paying maintenance fees on assets that no longer support commercial goals.

A large portfolio can grow through internal research, patent assignment, merger, acquisition, or direct patent purchases. The listed owner therefore may not have employed the inventors or developed the original technology. Conversely, an inventor can appear on thousands of patent documents without owning those patents. Inventorship identifies who contributed to the claimed invention, while assignment determines who owns transferable patent rights.

If you plan to file a patent, avoid assuming that forming a company automatically transfers an invention to it. Address ownership in writing and coordinate the assignment language with employment, founder, contractor, and financing documents.

What Patent Rankings Do Not Reveal

A high patent count shows filing and grant activity, but it does not establish that a company is more innovative, profitable, or technically advanced than a lower-ranked competitor. One commercially important patent may be more valuable than hundreds of patents covering narrow improvements.

A raw ranking does not reveal:

• Patent quality: The count does not show how broadly the claims read or how well they may withstand a validity challenge.
• Commercial value: A patent may cover a profitable product, an unused concept, or technology that the market has replaced.
• Enforceability: Ownership defects, prior art, claim construction, or prosecution history may limit enforcement.
• Licensing income: Grant totals do not disclose royalty rates, active licenses, settlements, or cross-license terms.
• Current ownership: The recipient named in an annual grant ranking may later sell or assign the patent.
• Geographic reach: A U.S. patent has territorial effect and does not itself provide worldwide protection.

Rankings also do not answer claims such as which AI company has a particular number of patents unless the speaker defines AI, the jurisdiction, the relevant date, and the counting method. A portfolio may contain AI-related claims without being classified consistently as an AI portfolio.

The same caution applies to questions about famous executives or individual inventors. Search the person's inventor records separately from assignee records. Patents credited to an executive as an inventor may be owned by a company, while company patents may have been created by other employees. Use a ranking as a starting point, then inspect the actual records and relevant agreements.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You File a Patent?

You file a patent application with the USPTO that identifies the inventors and applicant and includes the required description, claims, drawings when necessary, and filing materials. The correct application type depends on the protection sought. Before submitting it, confirm ownership and review current USPTO filing instructions, fees, formatting rules, and available electronic filing methods.

How Do You Make a Patent?

You do not make a patent directly, you create an invention and apply for patent protection. The USPTO examines the application to determine whether the claimed invention satisfies applicable legal requirements. A granted patent may result only after examination, amendments, arguments, and payment of required fees. Building a prototype can be useful, but it is not always required to apply.

Does Patent Licensing Work?

Yes, patent licensing can let an owner monetize an invention while retaining ownership. Its effectiveness depends on the patent's scope, validity, market demand, licensee, royalty structure, and enforcement provisions. A well-drafted agreement should define the licensed rights, territory, field of use, exclusivity, payment duties, sublicensing rules, reporting requirements, and treatment of improvements.

How Do I Get a Patent?

You get a patent by obtaining a USPTO grant after filing and successfully prosecuting an application. Start by preserving confidentiality, documenting the invention and contributors, and deciding who should own the application. Public disclosure can affect patent rights, particularly outside the United States, so seek advice before publishing, selling, demonstrating, or offering the invention commercially.

How Do You Conduct a Patent Search?

You conduct a patent search by combining keywords, classifications, inventor names, assignee names, dates, and citations in patent databases. Search both granted patents and published applications, then review the claims and related patent families rather than relying only on titles or abstracts. A patentability search differs from a freedom-to-operate analysis, which focuses on potentially enforceable claims.

How Do You License a Patent?

You license a patent through a written agreement granting defined rights to another party without necessarily transferring ownership. Before signing, verify ownership, patent status, remaining term, covered products, and existing licenses. The agreement should address royalties, audits, infringement control, warranties, indemnification, termination, confidentiality, and dispute resolution, with terms tailored to the transaction and applicable law.