List of prolific inventors
The 100 known most prolific inventors based on worldwide utility patents are shown in the following table. While in many cases this is the number of utility patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, it may include utility patents granted by other countries, as noted by the source references for an inventor.
Prolific Inventors
[edit]Inventor | Pats | Fams | Fam % | Pat Yrs | Yrs | Pat /Yr | Inv /Pat | Pat Residence | Majority Assignment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shunpei Yamazaki | [1] | 6432 | 2843 | 44.2% | 1972—2024 | 52.6 | 122 | 3.6 | Japan | Semiconductor Energy Laboratory |
Kia Silverbrook | [2] | 4747 | 1311 | 27.6% | 1994—2014 | 20 | 237 | 1.6 | Australia | Silverbrook Research |
Tao Luo | [3] | 3544 | 2976 | 84.0% | 2006—2024 | 18.5 | 192 | 5.6 | USA | Qualcomm |
Kangguo Cheng | [4] | 2757 | 1515 | 55.0% | 2004—2024 | 20 | 138 | 3.9 | USA | IBM |
Frederick E. Shelton IV | [5] | 2426 | 1139 | 46.9% | 2005—2024 | 19.4 | 125 | 4.5 | USA | Ethicon |
Junyi Li | [6] | 2274 | 1927 | 84.7% | 2002—2024 | 22 | 103 | 5.2 | USA | Qualcomm |
Peter Gaal | [7] | 2225 | 1711 | 76.9% | 2002—2024 | 22.2 | 100 | 5.9 | USA | Qualcomm |
Wanshi Chen | [8] | 2079 | 1607 | 77.3% | 2009—2024 | 15.5 | 134 | 5.7 | USA | Qualcomm |
Lowell L. Wood, Jr. | [9] | 1996 | 1325 | 66.4% | 1971—2024 | 52.5 | 38 | 8.8 | USA | Intellectual Ventures |
Roderick A. Hyde | [10] | 1891 | 1252 | 66.2% | 2001—2023 | 22.4 | 84 | 8.7 | USA | Intellectual Ventures |
Chen-Hua Yu | [11] | 1762 | 946 | 53.7% | 1996—2024 | 28.4 | 62 | 4.9 | Taiwan | TSMC |
Xiaoxia Zhang | [12] | 1697 | 1466 | 86.4% | 2009—2024 | 15.8 | 107 | 5.5 | USA | Qualcomm |
Hanbyul Seo | [13] | 1675 | 1233 | 73.6% | 2012—2024 | 12.5 | 134 | 3.8 | South Korea | LG |
Esmael H. Dinan | [14] | 1619 | 680 | 42.0% | 2006—2024 | 18.4 | 88 | 3.6 | USA | Ofinno |
Jun Koyama | [15] | 1493 | 618 | 41.4% | 1991—2022 | 30.8 | 48 | 3.1 | Japan | Semiconductor Energy Laboratory |
Gurtej Singh Sandhu | [16] | 1427 | 584 | 40.9% | 1991—2024 | 32.5 | 44 | 2.5 | USA | Micron |
Jing Sun | [17] | 1421 | 1201 | 84.5% | 2012—2024 | 11.9 | 119 | 5.9 | USA | Qualcomm |
Sarbajit K. Rakshit | [18] | 1327 | 1108 | 83.5% | 2013—2024 | 11.8 | 112 | 3.4 | India | IBM |
Shou-Shan Fan | [19] | 1307 | 1093 | 83.6% | 2006—2024 | 18.5 | 71 | 4.2 | China | Hon Hai |
Paul Lapstun | [20] | 1305 | 246 | 18.9% | 2000—2022 | 21.4 | 61 | 2.5 | Australia | Silverbrook Research |
Alexander Reznicek | [21] | 1249 | 747 | 59.8% | 2006—2024 | 18.6 | 67 | 3.9 | USA | IBM |
Clarence T. Tegreene | [22] | 1248 | 903 | 72.4% | 2000—2024 | 23.5 | 53 | 10.1 | USA | Intellectual Ventures |
Shan Liu | [23] | 1228 | 811 | 66.0% | 2013—2024 | 11.2 | 110 | 3.4 | USA | Tencent |
Satoshi Seo | [24] | 1191 | 564 | 47.4% | 2002—2024 | 21.9 | 54 | 4.1 | Japan | Semiconductor Energy Laboratory |
Suckchel Yang | [25] | 1184 | 763 | 64.4% | 2013—2024 | 11.4 | 104 | 4.7 | South Korea | LG |
Kijun Kim | [26] | 1149 | 798 | 69.5% | 2013—2024 | 10.8 | 106 | 4.6 | South Korea | LG |
Joonkui Ahn | [27] | 1122 | 728 | 64.9% | 2013—2024 | 11.3 | 99 | 4.7 | South Korea | LG |
Edward K. Y. Jung | [28] | 1111 | 794 | 71.5% | 1996—2022 | 26.1 | 43 | 8.0 | USA | Intellectual Ventures |
Leonard Forbes | [29] | 1109 | 411 | 37.1% | 1975—2019 | 43.3 | 26 | 2.6 | USA | Micron |
Juan Montojo | [30] | 1108 | 906 | 81.8% | 2004—2024 | 20.7 | 54 | 6.9 | USA | Qualcomm |
Thomas Edison | [31] | 1084 | NA | NA | 1869—1933 | 63.9 | 17 | 1.0 | USA | Thomas Edison |
Marta Karczewicz | [32] | 1067 | 879 | 82.4% | 2000—2024 | 23.9 | 45 | 4.0 | USA | Qualcomm |
Rick Allen Hamilton II | [33] | 1062 | 714 | 67.2% | 1999—2024 | 25 | 42 | 4.2 | USA | IBM |
Jason L. Harris | [34] | 1053 | 616 | 58.5% | 2011—2024 | 13.8 | 76 | 6.0 | USA | Ethicon |
Ruilong Xie | [35] | 1035 | 773 | 74.7% | 2013—2024 | 11.8 | 88 | 4.2 | USA | IBM |
Takahiro Nishi | [36] | 1022 | 363 | 35.5% | 2001—2024 | 23.2 | 44 | 6.3 | Japan | Panasonic |
Jason K. Resch | [37] | 1013 | 507 | 50.0% | 2009—2024 | 15.2 | 67 | 4.2 | USA | IBM |
Tingfang Ji | [38] | 1011 | 750 | 74.2% | 2006—2024 | 18.3 | 55 | 6.9 | USA | Qualcomm |
Donald E. Weder | [39] | 1000 | 395 | 39.5% | 1978—2015 | 37.1 | 27 | 1.1 | USA | Weder Family Trust |
Michael J. Sullivan | [40] | 994 | 534 | 53.7% | 1989—2024 | 34.5 | 29 | 3.8 | USA | Acushnet Holdings |
George Albert Lyon | [41] | 993 | NA | NA | 1901—1965 | 64.5 | 15 | 1.0 | Canada | Lyon George Albert |
Jordin T. Kare | [42] | 989 | 640 | 64.7% | 1992—2023 | 30.5 | 32 | 9.1 | USA | Intellectual Ventures |
Yunjung Yi | [43] | 985 | 695 | 70.6% | 2015—2024 | 8.9 | 111 | 3.3 | South Korea | LG |
Jay S. Walker | [44] | 979 | 422 | 43.1% | 1998—2024 | 26.3 | 37 | 5.2 | USA | Walker Digital |
Ahmadreza Rofougaran | [45] | 959 | 466 | 48.6% | 2002—2024 | 22.4 | 43 | 6.4 | USA | Broadcom |
Seungmin Lee | [46] | 956 | 705 | 73.7% | 2014—2024 | 10.1 | 95 | 3.5 | South Korea | LG |
John F. O'Connor | [47] | 949 | NA | NA | 1901—1935 | 33.9 | 28 | NA | USA | William H. Miner |
Melvin De Groote | [48] | 925 | NA | NA | 1924—1966 | 41.8 | 22 | NA | USA | Petrolite |
David R. Hall | [49] | 917 | 759 | 82.8% | 1985—2024 | 39.4 | 23 | 3.8 | USA | Hall Labs |
Hao Xu | [50] | 914 | 654 | 71.6% | 2005—2024 | 19.6 | 47 | 4.7 | China | Qualcomm |
Nathan Myhrvold | [51] | 905 | 613 | 67.7% | 1994—2024 | 29.7 | 30 | 11.1 | USA | Intellectual Ventures |
William H. Eby | [52] | 899 | 895 | 99.6% | 1994—2024 | 30.2 | 30 | 1.2 | USA | Monsanto |
Francis H. Richards | [53] | 894 | NA | NA | 1899—1930 | 30.8 | 29 | NA | USA | Francis H. Richards |
Hajime Kimura | [54] | 890 | 280 | 31.5% | 2002—2024 | 21.9 | 41 | 2.6 | Japan | Semiconductor Energy Laboratory |
Mark Malamud | [55] | 886 | 690 | 77.9% | 1997—2022 | 25.1 | 35 | 7.5 | USA | Intellectual Ventures |
Hongyuan Zhang | [56] | 871 | 476 | 54.6% | 2009—2024 | 15.5 | 56 | 3.9 | USA | Marvell |
Robert W. Lord | [57] | 867 | 682 | 78.7% | 2003—2024 | 20.4 | 42 | 7.6 | USA | Intellectual Ventures |
Royce A. Levien | [58] | 855 | 666 | 77.9% | 1997—2020 | 23.5 | 36 | 6.8 | USA | Intellectual Ventures |
Chih-Chao Yang | [59] | 840 | 524 | 62.4% | 2003—2024 | 20.9 | 40 | 3.4 | USA | IBM |
Muriel Y. Ishikawa | [60] | 839 | 560 | 66.7% | 2002—2023 | 21.2 | 40 | 11.1 | USA | Intellectual Ventures |
Michael K. Gschwind | [61] | 836 | 442 | 52.9% | 2001—2021 | 20.6 | 41 | 2.6 | USA | IBM |
Lee D. Whetsel | [62] | 836 | 129 | 15.4% | 1991—2017 | 26.4 | 32 | 1.1 | USA | Texas Instruments |
Clifford A. Pickover | [63] | 835 | 548 | 65.6% | 1992—2024 | 32.2 | 26 | 3.9 | USA | IBM |
Devendra K. Sadana | [64] | 814 | 459 | 56.4% | 1983—2024 | 41.8 | 19 | 4.3 | USA | IBM |
Yan Zhou | [65] | 803 | 716 | 89.2% | 2012—2024 | 12.2 | 66 | 4.4 | USA | Qualcomm |
Stuart C. Salter | [66] | 798 | 750 | 94.0% | 2009—2024 | 14.9 | 54 | 4.8 | USA | Ford |
Youngdae Lee | [67] | 796 | 627 | 78.8% | 2014—2024 | 10.6 | 75 | 3.1 | South Korea | LG |
SungDuck Chun | [68] | 794 | 485 | 61.1% | 2007—2024 | 16.8 | 47 | 3.8 | South Korea | LG |
Salman Akram | [69] | 784 | 291 | 37.1% | 1995—2024 | 29.4 | 27 | 2.9 | USA | Micron |
Hsien-Wei Chen | [70] | 780 | 381 | 48.8% | 2005—2024 | 19.7 | 40 | 3.5 | Taiwan | TSMC |
Warren M. Farnworth | [71] | 774 | 289 | 37.3% | 1990—2020 | 24.4 | 32 | 2.8 | USA | Micron |
Justin T. Mason | [72] | 773 | 769 | 99.5% | 2008—2024 | 16 | 48 | 1.0 | USA | MS Technologies |
James A. Jorasch | [73] | 771 | 310 | 40.2% | 1994—2023 | 29 | 27 | 3.9 | USA | Walker Digital |
Satoshi Nagata | [74] | 764 | 727 | 95.2% | 2011—2024 | 13.1 | 58 | 4.0 | Japan | NTT |
Bruce B. Doris | [75] | 763 | 433 | 56.7% | 1995—2023 | 28.6 | 27 | 4.2 | USA | IBM |
Jeyhan Karaoguz | [76] | 757 | 371 | 49.0% | 1996—2020 | 23.8 | 32 | 4.6 | USA | Broadcom |
Kyungmin Park | [77] | 754 | 389 | 51.6% | 2014—2024 | 10.5 | 72 | 5.2 | USA | Ofinno |
Carleton Ellis | [78] | 753 | NA | NA | 1902—1946 | 43.1 | 17 | NA | USA | Ellis Foster Co |
Ali Khakifirooz | [79] | 751 | 407 | 54.2% | 2011—2024 | 12.9 | 58 | 4.2 | USA | IBM |
Xue Dong | [80] | 751 | 731 | 97.3% | 2010—2024 | 13.9 | 54 | 7.4 | China | BOE |
John M. Santosuosso | [81] | 738 | 466 | 63.1% | 2001—2022 | 20.7 | 36 | 3.9 | USA | IBM |
Hideo Ando | [82] | 733 | 123 | 16.8% | 1983—2020 | 36.7 | 20 | 3.1 | Japan | Toshiba |
Frederick A. Ware | [83] | 731 | 229 | 31.3% | 1981—2024 | 42.9 | 17 | 2.8 | USA | Rambus |
Shougo Sato | [84] | 730 | 285 | 39.0% | 1992—2024 | 32.1 | 23 | 1.8 | Japan | Brother |
Jean-Philippe M. Vasseur | [85] | 726 | 590 | 81.3% | 2006—2024 | 18.5 | 39 | 2.6 | France | Cisco Systems |
George Spector | [86] | 723 | 723 | 100% | 1974—1998 | 24.6 | 29 | 2.1 | USA | George Spector |
Austin L. Gurney | [87] | 718 | 182 | 25.3% | 1999—2021 | 21.6 | 33 | 2.9 | USA | Genentech |
Lisa Seacat DeLuca | [88] | 712 | 516 | 72.5% | 2009—2024 | 15.7 | 45 | 2.7 | USA | IBM |
Gregory J. Boss | [89] | 710 | 487 | 68.6% | 2008—2024 | 16.6 | 43 | 4.2 | USA | IBM |
Chung-Shi Liu | [90] | 701 | 378 | 53.9% | 2000—2024 | 24.7 | 28 | 6.1 | Taiwan | TSMC |
Tetsujiro Kondo | [91] | 700 | 528 | 75.4% | 1987—2021 | 34 | 21 | 3.8 | Japan | Sony |
Elihu Thomson | [92] | 696 | NA | NA | 1899—1935 | 35.9 | 19 | NA | USA | GE |
Irwin Gerszberg | [93] | 682 | 312 | 45.7% | 1994—2023 | 29.2 | 23 | 6.8 | USA | AT&T |
Hua Zhou | [94] | 681 | 389 | 57.1% | 2012—2024 | 12.7 | 54 | 5.5 | USA | Ofinno |
Eric C. Leuthardt | [95] | 680 | 459 | 67.5% | 2006—2024 | 17.8 | 38 | 9.1 | USA | Intellectual Ventures |
Woosuk Ko | [96] | 670 | 269 | 40.1% | 2015—2024 | 9.5 | 71 | 3.4 | South Korea | LG |
Xiaochuan Chen | [97] | 661 | 643 | 97.3% | 2014—2024 | 10.3 | 64 | 7.0 | China | BOE |
Aleksandar Damnjanovic | [98] | 658 | 483 | 73.4% | 2003—2024 | 21.2 | 31 | 4.4 | USA | Qualcomm |
Paul S. Henry | [99] | 657 | 301 | 45.8% | 1978—2023 | 44.9 | 15 | 6.3 | USA | AT&T |
Toshiyasu Sugio | [100] | 657 | 240 | 36.5% | 2009—2024 | 15.1 | 44 | 4.9 | Japan | Panasonic |
This table is usually updated every Tuesday, and is current as of November 19, 2024[update].
The columns are defined as follows:
- Inventor: The name of the inventor.
- Pats: The number of utility patents that have been issued. Only utility patents (or the international equivalent) are listed, as a utility patent is a patent for an invention. Not all patents are for inventions. Other patent types include: design patents for the ornamental design of an object; plant patents for plant varieties; and reissue patents, where a correction is made to an already granted patent. This list does not include patent applications (patents pending) as there is no guarantee that a patent application actually describes a novel invention until the patent is granted.
- Fams: The number of patent families, which in USPTO data includes an original or continuation-in-part patent by itself or with one or more continuation or divisional patents based on the original or continuation-in-part patent. This is different than global patent families that represent a patent filed in more than one jurisdiction. "NA" signifies the inventor was active prior to digital records.
- Fam %: The percentage of original and continuation-in-part patents that are in the inventor's patent portfolio [Fams column divided by Pats column, rounded to first decimal as a percentage]. "NA" signifies the inventor was active prior to digital records.
- Pat Yrs: The first and last year in which an inventor received a patent issuance.
- Yrs: The number of years from first issuance to most recent issuance, rounded to first decimal based on dates.
- Pats /Yr: The average number of patents received per year [Pats column divided by Yrs column, rounded].
- Inv / Pat: The average number of inventors listed on the inventor's most recent 50 patents as of September 7, 2021[update] or on the date the inventor was added to the table if later. "NA" signifies the inventor was active prior to digital records.
- Pat Residence: The country of inventor's residence listed in their most recent patent issuance.
- Majority Assignment: The entity that has the most patents assigned from an inventor's portfolio. This is current and not original assignment. It is usually, but not always an indication of which company the inventor worked at for the majority of their patent activity.
Significance of inventions
[edit]This table is a sortable list of the most prolific inventors as measured by utility patents granted. It does not include other types of invention, such as inventions that were never applied for nor granted, for which there is no known source. Nor does the table attempt to measure the significance of an inventor and their inventions. The significance of inventions is often not apparent until many decades after the invention has been made. For recent inventors, it is not yet possible to determine their place in history.
Various published lists
[edit]Rankings of prolific inventors have been published at various times. However, until the patent records were digitized, these lists were very tedious to prepare, as many thousands of patent records had to be checked manually. Even after digitization, it is still not a simple process. While the USPTO keeps statistics for annual rankings of inventions assigned to companies, it no longer publishes rankings of individual inventors. The last such list was published by the USPTO in 1998.[Info 1] Also, patents predating 1976 have not yet been digitized in the USPTO records. This means that patents before 1976 will not be included in a USPTO search by inventor name, and the number of patents granted before 1976 must be added to current searches.
A more extensive list of prolific inventors with additional information and ability to filter on country, gender, time period, patent type, and Nobel laureate title can be found at idiyas
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "USPTO publication: Prolific Inventors Receiving Utility Patents 1988–1997" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-05-02. Retrieved 2011-07-12.
References of Inventors' Patents
[edit]- ^ Shunpei Yamazaki
- ^ Kia Silverbrook
- ^ Tao Luo
- ^ Kangguo Cheng
- ^ Frederick E. Shelton IV
- ^ Junyi Li
- ^ Peter Gaal
- ^ Wanshi Chen
- ^ Lowell L. Wood, Jr.
- ^ Roderick A. Hyde
- ^ Chen-Hua Yu
- ^ Xiaoxia Zhang
- ^ Hanbyul Seo
- ^ Esmael H. Dinan
- ^ Jun Koyama
- ^ Gurtej Singh Sandhu
- ^ Jing Sun
- ^ Sarbajit K. Rakshit
- ^ Shou-Shan Fan
- ^ Paul Lapstun
- ^ Alexander Reznicek
- ^ Clarence T. Tegreene
- ^ Shan Liu
- ^ Satoshi Seo
- ^ Suckchel Yang
- ^ Kijun Kim
- ^ Joonkui Ahn
- ^ Edward K. Y. Jung
- ^ Leonard Forbes
- ^ Juan Montojo
- ^ Thomas Edison
- ^ Marta Karczewicz
- ^ Rick Allen Hamilton II
- ^ Jason L. Harris
- ^ Ruilong Xie
- ^ Takahiro Nishi
- ^ Jason K. Resch
- ^ Tingfang Ji
- ^ Donald E. Weder
- ^ Michael J. Sullivan
- ^ George Albert Lyon
- ^ Jordin T. Kare
- ^ Yunjung Yi
- ^ Jay S. Walker
- ^ Ahmadreza Rofougaran
- ^ Seungmin Lee
- ^ John F. O'Connor
- ^ Melvin De Groote
- ^ David R. Hall
- ^ Hao Xu
- ^ Nathan Myhrvold
- ^ William H. Eby
- ^ Francis H. Richards
- ^ Hajime Kimura
- ^ Mark Malamud
- ^ Hongyuan Zhang
- ^ Robert W. Lord
- ^ Royce A. Levien
- ^ Chih-Chao Yang
- ^ Muriel Y. Ishikawa
- ^ Michael K. Gschwind
- ^ Lee D. Whetsel
- ^ Clifford A. Pickover
- ^ Devendra K. Sadana
- ^ Yan Zhou
- ^ Stuart C. Salter
- ^ Youngdae Lee
- ^ SungDuck Chun
- ^ Salman Akram
- ^ Hsien-Wei Chen
- ^ Warren M. Farnworth
- ^ Justin T. Mason
- ^ James A. Jorasch
- ^ Satoshi Nagata
- ^ Bruce B. Doris
- ^ Jeyhan Karaoguz
- ^ Kyungmin Park
- ^ Carleton Ellis
- ^ Ali Khakifirooz
- ^ Xue Dong
- ^ John M. Santosuosso
- ^ Hideo Ando
- ^ Frederick A. Ware
- ^ Shougo Sato
- ^ Jean-Philippe M. Vasseur
- ^ George Spector
- ^ Austin L. Gurney
- ^ Lisa Seacat DeLuca
- ^ Gregory J. Boss
- ^ Chung-Shi Liu
- ^ Tetsujiro Kondo
- ^ Elihu Thomson
- ^ Irwin Gerszberg
- ^ Hua Zhou
- ^ Eric C. Leuthardt
- ^ Woosuk Ko
- ^ Xiaochuan Chen
- ^ Aleksandar Damnjanovic
- ^ Paul S. Henry
- ^ Toshiyasu Sugio