NIKON RANKS 20th IN FILING FOR U.S. PATENTS
January 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
- The information is current as of the date of publication. It is subject to change without notice.