Patents provide legal rights to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a specified period of time in exchange for publicly disclosing details about the invention. The document discusses what patents are, how they vary by country, the top countries and companies for international patent applications in 2021, and details about patents in China, the US, and Japan. It also provides information about the top individual patent holders, including their backgrounds and areas of invention.

2. What is a Patent?
A patent is an exclusive right granted to a new invention that's non-obvious and
useful in providing a new way of doing things or a technical solution to a problem.
It’s a form of intellectual property that gives a legal right for the inventor to exclude
others from selling or making an invention for a specified period. The legal right is in
exchange for disclosing the technical information about the invention to the public as
an enabling disclosure in a patent application.
Some other forms of intellectual property rights are referred to as patents in various
jurisdictions. In the U.S., industrial design rights are sometimes called design patents,
plant breeders' rights are also known as plant patents, and other names for utility
models are petty patents or innovation patents.

3. Patent by Country Variations
Patent granting procedures, patentee requirements, and extent of exclusive rights differ widely
among countries, and are based on national laws and other international agreements.
However, a patent application comprises one or more claims defining its protection scope. Patent
rights fall under private law in most countries, and the patent owner must sue whoever infringes
the patent to enforce their rights.
Under the WTO TRIPS agreement, patents are available in the member countries stating that the
period of protection shouldn't be less than twenty years. But there’re still variations in the
patentable subject matter among the countries.

4. Top ten countries with the most international
patent applications by the end of the year 2021.
1. China - 695,400
2. United States - 595,700
3. Japan - 502,600
4. South Korea - 206,780
5. Germany - 173,220
6. France - 72,800
7. United Kingdom - 58,410
8. Switzerland - 53,860
9. Sweden - 44,530
10. Netherlands - 41,270

5. Patents in China
China has authorized over 2.53 million patents in the past five years, with a 13.4% average
annual growth rate. In 2021, the country accredited about 695,400 patents. The average
ownership of invention patents in China reached 7.5 per 10,000 people, almost twice as much
as that at the end of 2017.
According to its 15-year (2021-2035) IPR development plan, China has set a clear target that the
value of patent-intensive and innovative industries should contribute 13% of the country's GDP
by 2025.
Patents in the United States
In the 2021 fiscal year, there were around 595,700 patent applications in the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office, a slight decrease from the previous year's 597,000 applications.
To obtain patent protection under U.S. law, the patentee should apply to the USPTO, where it’s
reviewed to determine whether the invention is patentable. The law grants patent holders the
right to exclude others people from making, using, or selling their invention.

6. Patents in Japan
Japanese patent applications ranked third by country, showing a 1.2% drop from the
previous year.
One suggested explanation for decreased potent applications in Japan could be that
Japanese companies tend to fill patents in more mature industries and less in healthcare
and digital technologies -- which were the key drivers of progression in patent applications at
the EPO total in 2021.

7. Sl No. Companies Patents
1 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION 8540
2 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD 8517
3 LG CORPORATION 4388
4 CANON K.K. 3400
5 HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. 2955
6 INTEL CORPORATION 2835
7 TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MFG. CO. LTD. 2807
8 TOYOTA JIDOSHA K.K. 2753
9 RAYTHEON TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION 2694
10 SONY CORPORATION 2624
TOP TEN COMPANIES

8. TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS
1. Kia Silverbrook, an Australian inventor, scientist, and entrepreneur, holds 4,747 U.S. patents.
2. Shunpei Yamazaki is a Japanese inventor. Most of his 5,807 patents are related to computing.
3. American Donald Weder is the owner of Highland Supply Company, a major player in the floral
industry. He holds 1,413 patents, mostly related to floral and decorative packaging.
4. Paul Lapstun is a business partner of Kia Silverbook. He owns or co-owns 1,298 patents.
5. Leonard Forbes is a retired Oregon State University professor of electrical engineering and
operates a consulting firm specializing in solar cell technology. He holds 1,108 patents.

9. 1. Kia Silverbrook
Holding 4,747 U.S. patents as of 2021, Australian-born
Silverbrook is one of the most prolific inventors of all time.
A majority of Silverbrook's inventions are for advances in
computer printing, inkjet, and digital paper. But his patents
cover more areas than that and range from 3D printing to DNA
analysis to nanotechnology. Once an employee of a research
subsidiary of Canon, Inc., Silverbrook left the Japanese firm in
1994 to establish his own research, development, and
invention licensing company.

10. 2. Shunpei Yamazaki
Securing patents for what seems like an endless stream of inventions for more
than 40 years, Yamazaki held 5,807 U.S. patents in 2021.
Other inventions of his include a method of producing cold nuclear fusion and
an integrated circuit chip of glass, widely used in electronic and computer
applications. He is the president and founder of Semiconductor Energy
Laboratory Co., Ltd. a research and development firm in Tokyo

11. 3. Donald Weder
Floral and decorative packing are American-born Weder's main
creative focus, and he currently holds 1,413 U.S. patents.
Weder's Highland Supply Company, a small enterprise that he
inherited from his father, is now a major player in the floral industry,
a result of the younger Weder's managerial skills and inventions.
Although Weder's inventions relating to flowerpots, floral paper,
and methods of wrapping and packaging are not as transformative
as the iPad, they have helped provide the funding for his
philanthropic Weder Family Trust. The Trust, along with Highland
Supply, has sponsored the preservation of timberlands and the
planting of more than 100,000 trees.

12. 4. Paul Lapstun
Laptsun owns or co-owns with his colleague, Kia
Silverbrook, mentioned above, approximately 1,298 U.S.
patents. Among his inventions are a wide-format inkjet
printer, and a device that permits the sending and receiving
of emails but only if the sender possesses a special
enabling business card.

13. 5. Leonard Forbes
With over 1,108 U.S. patents, Forbes is among the
world's most productive inventors
His inventions include semiconductors, random
access memory devices, applications for computers,
and a wide range of advances in electronic and thin
film (microchip) technologies.
Canadian-born Forbes is a retired Oregon State
University professor of electrical engineering and
operates a consulting firm specializing in solar cell
technology.

14. The number of patent filings increased from 42,763 in 2014-15 to 66,440 in 2021-
22 due to steps taken by the government to strengthen intellectual property rights
(IPR) regime of the country, the commerce and industry ministry said on Tuesday. It
also said India granted 30,074 patents in 2021-22 as compared to 5,978 in 2014-
15.
There has also been a reduction in the time of patent examination from 72 months
in 2016 to 5-23 months at present.
For the first time in the last 11 years, the number of domestic patent filing has
surpassed the number of international patent filing at Indian Patent (IP) office in
January-March 2022 quarter," it said.
Indian Scenario

15. RANK INVENTOR # PATENTS ASSOCIATED INSTITUTE
1 Gurtej Singh Sandhu 1375 Micron IIT, Delhi
2 Sarbajit Kumar Rakshit 753 IBM IIEST, Shibpur
3 Devendra K. Sadana 735 IBM IIT, Delhi
4 Ravi Arimilli 508 IBM Louisiana State
University
5 Ajith K. Kumar 354 General Electric College of
Engineering,
Trivandrum
6 Siddharth S. Oroskar 349 Samsung
Electronics
VESIT
7 Jasinder P. Singh 333 T Mobile NIT, Jalandhar
8 Sandeep R. Patil 315 IBM University of Pune
9 Ramachandra Divakaruni 304 IBM IIT, Madras
10 Madhusudan K. Iyengar 293 Google Savitribai Phule
Pune University
TOP TEN INDIVIDUALS

16. Gurtej Singh Sandhu
 Gurtej Singh Sandhu holds the record for the most patents by an
Indian. He has over 1340 utility patents and is Senior Fellow and
Vice President at Micron Technology. He works in the field of
Electrical Engineering.
 Gurtej was born in London and move to India at a age of 3. His
parents were from India.
 Patents: 1375
Associated: Micron Technology
First patent on: 1991
Education: PhD (Electrical Engineering)
 B. Tech in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology,
Delhi (IIT, Delhi)
 PhD in Electrical Engineering from University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill
Award: IEEE Andrew S. Grove Award in 2018
 Patent search
 Example of patent works:
 DRAM and NAND memory chip scaling
 A method to coat microchips with titanium without exposing the
metal to oxygen

17. Sarbajit Kumar Rakshit
Sarbajit Kumar Rakshit is a Cybersecurity architect
and Master Inventor at IBM. He joined IBM in
2007. He holds the record of the highest number
of patents issued to an Indian in a single year.
He was issued 163 patents in 2019.
He completed his degree in Mechanical
Engineering from Indian Institute of Engineering
Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur in 1997
and resides in Kolkata.
Patents: 753
Associated: IBM
First patent on: 2013
Education: Mechanical Engineering from Indian
Institute of Engineering Science and Technology
(IIEST), Shibpur in 1997

18. Siddharth S. Oroskar
Siddharth S. Oroskar is a prolific inventor from India. He
completed his Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and
Telecommunications from Vivekanand Education Society's
Institute Of Technology (VESIT), Mumbai in 2002.
He joined Samsung Electronics as a Senior Professional
Staff in 2019. Before that, he was working at Sprint
Nextel.
Patents: 349
Associated: Samsung Electronics
First patent: 2010
Education:
•Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and
Telecommunications from VESIT in 2002
•Masters of Science in Electromagnetics from University
of Houston in 2005

19. Jasinder P. Singh
Jasinder Pal Singh is a prolific inventor from India and
works at T Mobile as Principal System Architect. He has
previously worked at Sprint and Wireless facilities.
He completed his Bachelor's degree in Electronics &
Telecommunications from National Institute of Technology
(NIT), Jalandhar.
Patents: 333
Associated: T Mobile
First patent: 2010
Education:
Bachelor's degree in Electronics & Telecommunications
from National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar in 1995

20. Sandeep R. Patil
Sandeep R. Patil is a prolific inventor from India and has
been working at IBM from January 2000. He completed
his Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) in Computing from
University of Pune in 1999.
Patents: 315
Associated: IBM
First patent: 2008
Education:
•Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) in Computing from
University of Pune in 1999

21. Ramachandra Divakaruni
Ramachandra Divakaruni is a prolific inventor from India
and is a Project Manager at IBM. He completed his B.
Tech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from IIT,
Madras.
Patents: 304
Associated: IBM
First patent: 2000
Education:
•B. Tech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras
•PhD in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

22. Madhusudan K. Iyengar
Madhusudan K. Iyengar is a prolific inventor from India
and is working at Google since 2014. Previously, he has
worked at IBM and Facebook.
Patents: 293
Associated: IBM
First patent: 2005
Education:
•B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Savitribai Phule
Pune University in 1994
•PhD in Mechanical Engineering from University of
Minnesota in 2002
•Post-doc in Electronics cooling from Purdue University in
2003