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Jan. 1998
According to a recent survey by IFI / Plenum Data Corporation (a U.S. enterprise providing data from official archives of the U.S. Patent Office), Nikon Corporation officially registered a total of 479 patents with the U.S. Patent Office 1997.
This places Nikon at 20th on the list of overall number of registrants and 9 th among Japanese companies.
U.S. Ranking of Number of Patents Registered in 1997
| Ranking | Enterprise (Company) | No. of U.S. Patents |
|---|---|---|
1. |
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. | 1,742 |
2. |
CANON K.K.* | 1,381 |
3. |
NEC CORP.* | 1,101 |
4. |
MOTOROLA INC. | 1,065 |
5. |
MITSUBISHI DENKI K.K.* | 925 |
6. |
HITACHI LTD.* | 922 |
7. |
FUJITSU LTD.* | 909 |
8. |
TOSHIBA CORP.* | 891 |
9. |
SONY CORP.* | 867 |
10. |
EASTMAN KODAK CO. | 795 |
11. |
LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. | 770 |
12. |
MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO. LTD.* | 756 |
13. |
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. | 665 |
14. |
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC. | 610 |
15. |
XEROX CORP. | 607 |
16. |
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO. LTD. | 585 |
17. |
PHILIPS ELECTRONICS NORTH AMERICA CORP. | 556 |
18. |
MINNESOTA MINING & MANUFACTURING CO. | 549 |
19. |
HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. | 532 |
20. |
NIKON CORP.* | 479 |
21. |
FUJI PHOTO FILM CO. LTD.* | 476 |
22. |
SIEMENS AG | 461 |
23. |
SHARP K.K.* | 428 |
24. |
PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. | 418 |
25. |
INTEL CORP. | 407 |
*Japanese firms
