Nikon ranks 22nd in filing for U.S. Patents
March 1999
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 580 patents with the U.S. Patent Office 1998.
This places Nikon at 22nd on the list of overall number of registrants and 10th among Japanese companies.
U.S. Ranking of Number of Patents Registered in 1998
| Ranking | Enterprise (Company) |
No. of U.S.Patents |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. | 2,682 |
| 2. | CANON K.K.* | 1,934 |
| 3. | NEC CORP.* | 1,632 |
| 4. | MOTOROLA INC. | 1,428 |
| 5. | SONY CORP.* | 1,321 |
| 6. | SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO. LTD. | 1,306 |
| 7. | FUJITSU LTD.* | 1,205 |
| 8. | TOSHIBA CORP.* | 1,194 |
| 9. | EASTMAN KODAK CO. | 1,125 |
| 10. | MITSUBISHI DENKI K.K.* | 1,120 |
| 11. | HITACHI LTD.* | 1,107 |
| 12. | MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO. LTD.* | 1,058 |
| 13. | LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. | 930 |
| 14. | PHILIPS ELECTRONICS NORTH AMERICA CORP. | 845 |
| 15. | HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. | 811 |
| 16. | XEROX CORP. | 769 |
| 17. | GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. | 729 |
| 18. | INTEL CORP. | 705 |
| 19. | SIEMENS AG | 631 |
| 20. | TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC. | 618 |
| 21. | SHARP K.K.* | 611 |
| 22. | MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC. | 580 |
| 22. | NIKON CORP.* | 580 |
| 24. | ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES INC. | 557 |
| 24. | MINNESOTA MINING & MANUFACTURING CO. | 557 |
| 26. | FUJI PHOTO FILM CO. LTD.* | 549 |
| 27. | PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. | 456 |
| 28. | SUN MICROSYSTEMS INC. | 427 |
- *Japanese firms
- The information is current as of the date of publication. It is subject to change without notice.