Patent Leader IBM Targets Cloud Tech
IBM said Monday (January 12) it has been awarded more than 7,500 patents in 2014, including more than 3,000 related to cloud computing, data analytics and online security. The company also took credit for topping the annual list of U.S. patent recipients for the twenty-second consecutive year.
Since 2010, IBM claimed it has more than doubled the number of patented technologies in sectors like cloud computing and big data. Of these, more than 500 covered emerging computing technologies that could help propel its Watson cognitive computing effort.
The annual patent race underscores the growing importance of intellectual property as the coin of the technology realm. Technology giants like IBM, Samsung, Microsoft and Google are pouring billions of dollars into research and development so they can lock up ownership of emerging technologies. Hence, the licensing of technologies patented in the U.S. has become a key revenue stream for tech companies that also maintain armies of patent lawyers to defend their intellectual property portfolios.
Among the key IT-related patents highlighted by IBM was natural language processing technology along with a method for enabling virtualization in the cloud. The company also received a patent for a technique called "Workload adaptive cloud computing resource allocation." The company also patented a handful of technologies related to boosting cloud-computing security, virtualization and more efficient running of applications on software platforms.
Overall, IBM said it U.S. patent portfolio for cloud technologies increased 38 percent in the past year while cloud security patents rose 40 percent.
IBM's total of 7,534 U.S. patents awarded in 2014, a 10 percent increase over 2013, again topped a list that includes the world's leading technology companies. South Korean electronics giant Samsung ranked second with 4,952 U.S. patents. Samsung has been locked in long-running patent battle with Apple over key mobile device technologies.
Among the other U.S. patent leaders in 2014 were Microsoft (2,829), storage specialist Toshiba (2,608) and Google (2,566). Another Japan-based storage leader, Hitachi, slipped from No. 26 in 2013 to No. 38 in 2014, among the largest patent declines of any leading technology company.
According to patent tracker IFI Claims Patent Services, Google cracked the Patent Top 10 in 2014 while Apple (2,003 U.S. patents) landed at No. 11.
Among cloud vendors, Microsoft retained the fifth spot while the technology arm of cloud services leader Amazon (745 U.S. patents) cracked the Top 50 for the first time in 2014.
IFI reported that other big gainers in the 2014 patent race included Facebook, up 120 percent, and EMC Corp., up 62 percent.
Despite a record number of utility patents issues last year, IFI also reported that the growth of U.S. patents actually slowed year-on-year from 8.2 percent from 9.7 percent the previous year.
The U.S. had the most technologies companies in the patent tracker's Top 50 with 19 firms. Intel Corp. ranked No. 16 (1,578 U.S. patents) while Hewlett Packard came in at No. 17. (1,474 U.S. patents. Cisco came in at No. 32 with 1,095 U.S. patents.
See the 2014 IFI Top 50 list of U.S. patent assignees here.
