Submission + - Half of US patents land abroad second year running (networkworld.com) 1
netbuzz writes: According to a new report from IFI Patent Intelligence, 51% of patents issued by the United States in 2009 went to companies located overseas. While this marks the second consecutive year that a majority of U.S. patents have landed abroad, an author of the report says: "It's foolhardy to use this statistic to infer that American firms are losing ground to foreign competitors because with patents, it’s important to consider quality, as well as quantity." Meanwhile, IBM was once again granted the most patents of any company, 4,914, followed by Samsung and Microsoft.
related story: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/011210-patents-2009.html?hpg1=bn
related story: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/011210-patents-2009.html?hpg1=bn
Foolhardy indeed (Score:2)
"It's foolhardy to use this statistic to infer that American firms are losing ground to foreign competitors because with patents, it’s important to consider quality, as well as quantity."
It is also foolhardy to infer that ANY of these patents are worth spit, domestic or otherwise, given the quality of modern USPTO examinations. The 51% number is interesting, in that it shows how the Clinton-era push for saving the doomed American economy by policing IP rights around the world was doomed from the start