In the last three years, Apple has increased its U.S. patent portfolio in a significant manner — perhaps in an attempt to bolster its position in the intellectual property wars against Samsung and other like technology companies. Apple has grown its U.S. patent portfolio by about 25% every year for the past three years, and currently holds nearly 11,000 U.S. patents.<\/p>\n
In a single day this week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted a series of 48 patents to Apple, Inc., covering inventions directed to optical connectors, methods of improving a search, a multipoint touchscreen, a design for an Apple Watch table drawer, etc.<\/p>\n
In comparison, Samsung owns over 55,000 U.S. patents — more than any other company or entity — and IBM owns ths second largest U.S. patent portfolio, with a total of about 44,000 U.S. patents.<\/p>\n
While it appears that the patent litigtation wars between these companies are winding down, their patent portfolios are continuing to increase at a steady and significant pace.<\/p>\n
See the following articles for more information on this topic:<\/p>\n