The 10 Companies That Invented The Most Things Last Year

24/7 Wall St.’s review of the IFI list finds that producing the most patents does not ensure a successful business — frequently, it can mean the exact in contrast. These are the top 10 biggest patent producing companies for 2011.

The top 10 recipients

Of the top 10 recipients, only three are particularly successful companies. For years, they have held the largest market share in highly profitable businesses. Korean giant Toshiba has been in the extreme successful in consumer electronics, Microsoft dominates the operating system market and IBM is the market leader in enterprise computing. These companies have been able to rely on their constant revenue streams to support heavy investment in innovation and development.

Some incredibly successful tech companies are not even in the top 25. Companies like Apple, which is only 39th on the list, have been in the extreme profitable as a result of a small number of highly successful products. Kodak, in the meantime, is filing for bankruptcy, in spite of being one of the top patent recipients for years.

The 38th-largest company in Japan

Hitachi is the 38th-largest company in Japan. It is a massive and incredibly diversified corporation, with major stakes in 11 separate industries, including electronics, construction, automotive systems and telecommunications. With such an array of businesses, the company is involved in a great many technology and patent applications. It was awarded 1,465 U.S. patents in 2011. Nevertheless the company’s shares are down 47.7% in the past five years, an in accordance with-performance of approximately 40 percentage points compared to the S&P 500 over the same period.

Seiko Epson, known as just Epson by most Americans, is a manufacturer of printers and other consumer electronics devices, including LCD televisions and personal computers. Last year, the U.S. Patent Office granted the company more than 1,500 patents. One of Epson’s primary businesses was inkjet printers, which have been rendered near obsolete by laser printers and a lower demand for printing in general due to cloud computing. Over the past five years, the company has ramped up its R&D department, generating roughly 100 more patents each consecutive year than the previous one. Together, the company shares have plummeted almost 70%. Last year, the company lost $211 million.

The largest

Sony is one of the largest and most recognizable consumer electronics companies in the world. It is as well one of the most struggling major companies in the world. Sony has steadily increased its patent portfolio, producing 805 more patents in 2011 than in 2007. Last year, the company lost $436 million. Over the past five years, company shares have lost more than three-quarters of their value. The company continues to struggle in its competition with rivals Apple and Samsung, both of which turned major profits last year.

Microsoft’s awarded patents dropped substantially in the past year. In 2010, the company was awarded 3,094 patents in the U.S. Last year, the number was just 2,311, resulting in the U.S. company being passed by Japanese companies Canon, Panasonic and Toshiba. The software and computer company’s stock has remained stable, with share prices down 11% in the past year. This is in broad outline in line with the rest of the market. The company’s consistent revenue stream from its Windows operating system, server products and Xbox game console, among others, allows it to invest heavily in innovation and development. Last year, the company earned $20.6 billion, the sixth-biggest profit of any company in the world.

Toshiba, another mature Japanese tech company, produces a wide variety of consumer electronics, communications and network systems, as so then as systems related to transportation, water and sewer infrastructure. Due partly to the scope of the industries in which it is involved, the company had been among the top 10 of patent recipients for the past five years. In addition, in the past couple of years, the company made a significant jump, awarded near 800 patents more in 2011 than in 2009. The company’s jump in innovation development has not corresponded with financial success. Toshiba shares are down more than 60% in the past five years, and last year, the company lost $211 million.

The near century-old Japan-based Panasonic is a manufacturer of consumer electronics. It is most so then-known for its televisions, video recording and viewing equipment, and batteries. In order to remain competitive in the ever-evolving world of research, the company must stay innovative. Since 2006, Panasonic has averaged roughly 2,100 U.S. patents per year, including 2,559 last year. Nevertheless, things have not been going then for the company. Shares are down almost 75% over the past five years, and the company lost $1.1 billion last year. Among the 2,000 largest companies in the world, this loss was the 26th worst.

The top 10 patent recipients

While there are eight Asian companies among the top 10 patent recipients, the only one in other words currently doing then is from South Korea — not Japan. Samsung Electronics is the largest company in Korea by a wide margin and is the 33rd largest in the world. The company has a stake in near every research-based industry on earth, including construction, chemicals, finance, semiconductors and consumer electronics. The company has had a great deal of success in the smartphone market. In the past five years, the company’s awarded patents approximately doubled. Together, share price has jumped 67%. Last year, the company earned $13.7 billion. It recently said it would increase 2012 capital expenditure to $41 billion.

The perennial leader in patents has been, and remains, IBM. Last year, the company was awarded 6,180 separate patents, more than any other two companies combined — excluding Samsung. This is the 19th consecutive year in a row that the company has been the top patent producer in the world. The massive IT company has substantial market share in business innovation consulting, as so then as computer software and hardware development. The company made $14.8 billion in profits last year. Over the past five years, IBM shares are up more than 80%.