IBM Holds Top Spot on New-Patent List

IBM Corp. said it will announce today that it captured the top spot among U.S. patent recipients for the fifth consecutive year. Citing data from IFI/Plenum Data Corp., which produces the CLAIMS patent database, IBM said it received 1,724 U.S. patents in 1997, the second-highest total in its history, after the record 1,867 it was awarded in 1996. Canon Inc. placed second, retaining its 1996 ranking with 1,378 patents. NEC Corp., with 1,095 patents, edged Motorola Inc. out of the No. 3 slot. Motorola had 1,058 patents. For the second straight year, Japanese companies captured seven of the top 10 spots and U.S. companies the remaining three. In addition to IBM and Motorola, Eastman Kodak Co. made the list, ranking 10th, while General Electric Co.--last year’s No. 10--dropped out. The other Japanese companies were Fujitsu Ltd., Hitachi Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Sony Corp.