1994 US software patent statistics

1994 US software patent statistics

[Gregory Aharonian]

    The following has absolutely nothing to do with Ada, including the
U.S. Army/Navy/Air Force statistic.  Sad but true.

Greg Aharonian
                              ====================



                       1994 US SOFTWARE PATENT STATISTICS

    The Internet Patent News Service has finished its analysis of US software
patents issued in 1994, with a final total of 4569 patents, pushing the total
software patent count since 1970 over 15,000.  Anyone of the following figures
can be freely cited in your publication, as long as credit is given to the
news service.

    "Hot" topics for software patenting include object oriented programming,
interactive television, networking, health care and automobiles. Software
patents were issued in the following categories (with 1994 counts - some
patents counted in more than one category).

			623	Image processing
			532	Networks/communications
			448	Operating systems
			374	Process/numerical control
			337	Graphics
			292	Medical / health care
			241	Engineering
			232	Automobiles / transportation
			223	Graphical user interface
			211	Signal processing
			173	Database
			166	Computer aided software engineering
			162	Security / encryption
			149	CAE / Circuit Design
			147	Financial / management
			151	Office automation
			129	CAD / Computer aided design
			121	Word processing
			119	Physics
			103	Navigation
			 95	Speech recognition/synthesis
			 92	Robotics
			 89	Neural networks
			 88	Distributed processing
			 86	Pattern recognition
			 78	Compression
			 78	Artificial intelligence
			 71	Biology
			 70	Music
			 67	Natural language analysis
			 66	Numerical analysis
			 62	Character recognition
			 57	Multiprocessing
			 56	Algorithms
			 51	Chemistry
			 49	Object oriented programming
			 48	Games
			 47	Geophysical
			 47	Fuzzy logic
			 38	Simulation
			 34	Vision
			 33	Education
			 28	Parallel programming
			 26	Virtual reality
			  8	Spreadsheets
			  6	Biotechnology

along with the following corporate software patent assignees (* = Japanese):

			396	IBM
			189	*Hitachi
			107	DEC
			107	Xerox & Fuji Xerox
			107	*Toshiba
			 97	Hewlett-Packard
			 82	*Fujitsu
			 70	*Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
			 68	Motorola
			 68	*Matsushita Electric Industrial
			 65	*Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
			 61	ATT Bell Laboratories
			 50	General Electric
			 49	*Ricoh
			 39	Eastman Kodak
			 39	*Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
			 36	U.S. Navy / Army / Air Force
			 36	*Fanuc
			 35	Sun Microsystem
			 34	Intel
			 32	*NEC
			 30	*Yamaha
			 30	*Honda
			 27	*Brother Kyogo Kabushiki Kaisha
			 27	Texas Instruments
			 24	Bell Communications Research
			 23	Sony
			 22	Hughes Aircraft
			 21	Microsoft
			 21	Ford Motor
			 20	Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
			 20	Samsung Electronics
			 20	Apple Computer
			 19	Honeywell
			 17	*Fuji Photo Film
			 17	*Casio Computer
			 16	Westinghouse Electric
			 16	Unisys
			 15	Schlumberger Technology
			 14	*Zexel
			 14	*Pioneer Electronic
			 13	E.I. Du Pont de Nemours
			 13	VLSI Technology
			 13	Pitney Bowes
			 13	*Dainippon Screen Manufacturing
			 13	*Konica
			 13	*Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
			 13	Rockwell International
			 12	Compaq Computer
			 12	*Nissan Motor
			 12	France Telecom



   In 1995, the flood continues, with an all-time high of 125 software patents
issued in the first week of January.  My prediction is 5500 software patents
in 1995, giving a two year total of 10,000 software patents, for an industry
where the last original software idea was published ten years ago.


                                    ********

     Source Translation & Optimization has just released a report detailing
over a dozen statistical views of the problems of prior art for US software
patents.  The report, titled "Demographics of US Software Patents: Foundation
for Software Prior Art Planning" is available from STO for $100.

                                    ********

    For more information and questions on the 1994 software patent statistics,
please contact us.  To subscribe to the Internet Patent News Service, a free
daily newsletter, send  'help' in the body of a message to our Internet
address at:   patents@world.std.com   or call us.



Gregory Aharonian - Editor
Internet Patent News Service  patents@world.std.com
Source Translation & Optimization
P.O. Box 404
Belmont, MA 02178
617-489-3727