Patent giants

Earlier this month, and for the 18th year in a row, IBM took the corporate crown for the most U.S. patents received in a year - 5,896 - soaring over the number two spot by over 1,000. This milestone also marks the first time a company ever received more than 5,000 patents in a single year.

IBM's inventiveness stems from the company's long-term commitment to development and bold, exploratory research. And because IBM researchers have the ability to do so, they're often in charge of their own inventive destiny; discovering a problem, seeking a solution for it, and having the freedom, expertise and company-wide teamwork to invent a technology that the United States Patent and Trademark Office deems worthy of a patent. In order to be granted a patent, one's invention has to "promote industrial and technological progress in the United States and strengthen the national economy."

In order to sustain the inventive community in IBM, those with exceptional impact of invention through licensing, inclusion in product, and percentage of patents with a measurable impact are named Master Inventors. The title is fairly rare, and aids to distinguish such individuals within IBM as successful innovators, and as resources which can be engaged to guide and foster innovation.

Almaden is home to 22 Master Inventors, and has averaged two per year since the program began. A few of them commented on IBM's recent patent leadership announcement:

One of IBM's core values is innovation that matters for our company and for the world. Patents and IP revenue are measures of innovation. The fact that we have led the world for 18 years in a row implies that IBMers are living up to the values that define the company and everything we do. For 2010, with more than 5,800 patents and more patents issued than Microsoft, HP, Oracle, EMC and Google combined, we can say that IBM creates an environment that strongly encourages innovation in the company. As scientists and engineers we love to work on hard problems. Very often when we come up with a solution to a hard problem, it results in an invention. Subsequently, when the invention is incorporated into products, we can take pride in the fact that we have made a difference to our customers in addition to having contributed to the business of the company.

-KK Rao, IBM Distinguished Engineer, Master Inventor, Senior Manager, Advanced Storage Subsystems

If there were one word that could summarize what IBM research is all about, it's "innovation." The innovative culture at IBM Research is evident not only from its patenting and publication records, but also in its impact to the world through projects or products such as Blue Gene, the Watson system competing on Jeopardy! in a couple of weeks, and the relational database. In my past ten years with IBM Research, I've enjoyed having tremendous freedom and encouragement to innovate in multiple fields including storage, information management, analytics and services research. IBM's patent culture has served as a strong support foundation for researchers like me to invent and differentiate. I believe IBM's 18 years of patent leadership is truly symbolic of the bigger aspiration and higher value that the IBM company has: creating innovation that matters to the world. I am proud to be part of this bigger mission.

-Ying Chen, IBM Master Inventor, Research Staff Member