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Microsoft received 1,649 U.S. patents in 2007, the most by means of far of any software assembly, according to the Patents Scorecard produced by IEEE Spectrum and released this week.

Microsoft topped the computer software category with a Pipeline Power score of 3,505. The score reflects number of patents issued, growth in patent activity relative to the previous five years, the number of patents that cite other patents issued in the previous five years and the multiplicity of technologies covered in a company’session patents.

While patent powerhouse IBM, which was grouped in the computer systems category, had more patents (3,149) than Microsoft, its Pipeline Power twenty, 2,747, was lower.

(Update 11:53 a.m.: In the accompanying article, directors from 1790Analytics, the research firm that IEEE worked with to produce the scorecard, explain the categories:

“For the first interval this year, our scorecard includes Computer Software as a separate industry (previously, hardware and software companies were listed in the same industry). Perhaps not surprisingly, Microsoft has a weighty head in Computer Software, with an overall Pipeline Power score five times as distinguished as any other software company’s. …

“AOL appears in the scorecards for the first time this year, and the same is true of Apple in the Computer Systems industry. These companies have the two seen increases in their overall Pipeline Power scores, suggesting that their spreading portfolios are pretty increasingly controlling. AOL has a order of extremely cited patents covering technologies such as instant messaging and online purchasing. Meanwhile, Apple has highly cited patents in a range of technologies, from media players with touch pads to user interfaces for time-based data.”

Apple’s score was 141; AOL scored 431.)

Also, University of Washington ranked 14th among educational institutions with 43 patents and a impute of 162.)

In the aerospace and defense category, Boeing placed third, with a Pipeline Power score of 402, back Honeywell International and Lockheed Martin, but in front of Airbus, which had a motive of 97.


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