IBM Ranks First in U.S. Patents for the 21st Straight Time; Bernie Meyerson Comments

IBM said that in 2013, its inventors have received 6,809 patents, the 21st consecutive year that the company ranked first in the annual list of patent leaders in the country.

Some of the company’s patents for 2013 include inventions for the Watson supercomputer, neuromorphic and synaptronic spiking neural network and an automated validation and execution of cryptographic key and certificate deployment and distribution, IBM announced Tuesday.

IBM attributes the record number of patents to its over 8,000 IBM inventors residing in 47 different U.S. states and 41 countries.

“We take pride in being recognized as the U.S. patent leader, but patents are only one gauge of innovation. Equally significant is the impact that our patented inventions have when they are used to enable solutions that help clients and societies solve problems,” said Bernie Meyerson, IBM Fellow and vice president of innovation.

“Furthermore, the broad range of inventions that these patents represent underscores the need for a patent system that equally and fairly promotes and supports innovation across all technical fields.”

Other companies included in the top 10 list are Samsung, Canon, Sony, Microsoft, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hon Hai, Qualcomm and LG Electronics.