Microsoft Is One of the Top Patent Winners of 2012

A new report released by research firm IFI reveals that IBM remains the top patent winner in the United States, followed by Samsung and Canon.

IBM was granted a total of 6,478 patents last year, while Samsung won 5,081. Microsoft is the sixth company in the list with 2,613 patents, ahead of rivals Google (1,151 patents) and Apple (1,136 patents) which are ranked 21st and 22nd, respectively.

In 2012, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a total of 253,155 patents, according to The Sydney Morning Herald, which is quite a new record.

Microsoft has thus managed to retain the sixth position in IFI’s ranking as the company had been granted a total of 2,311 patents in 2011. IBM was the number one years ago as well, with a record of 6,180 patents.