Samsung Knocks Longtime Patent Leader IBM Off Its Perch

In a year when the U.S. issued the smallest number of patents since 2018, Korean electronics giant


Samsung Electronics


nosed past


IBM


with the most new patents, the first time in 29 years that IBM failed to come in at No. 1.

Working with data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, research firm IFI Claims Patent Services found that patent grants last year fell just over 1%, to 327,321, following a 7% decline in 2021. That’s no reflection of reduced innovation: IFI says the number of patent applications rose 2% to a record 417,922, the fifth straight year of increases.