List of prolific inventors
Thomas Alva Edison was widely known as America's most prolific inventor, even after his death in 1931.[Info 1] He held a total of 1,093 U.S. patents (1,084 utility patents and 9 design patents).[Info 2] In 2003, his patent count was exceeded by Japanese inventor Shunpei Yamazaki. On February 26, 2008, Yamazaki's patent count was exceeded by Australian inventor Kia Silverbrook.[Info 3] In 2017, Silverbrook's patent count was exceeded by Yamazaki.
Worldwide utility patents
Inventors with 200 or more worldwide utility patents are shown in the following table. While in many cases this is the number of utility patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, it may include utility patents granted by other countries, as noted by the source references for an inventor.
Inventor | Patents | Residence | Patent Years | Years | Patents / Year | Inventors / Patent | Majority assignment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shunpei Yamazaki | [1] | 6011 | ![]() |
1972—2022 | 50 | 120 | 3.6 | Semiconductor Energy Laboratory |
Kia Silverbrook | [2] | 4747 | ![]() |
1994—2018 | 24.4 | 195 | 1.6 | Silverbrook Research |
Kangguo Cheng | [3] | 2589 | ![]() |
2004—2022 | 17.5 | 148 | 3.9 | IBM |
Lowell L. Wood, Jr. | [4] | 1975 | ![]() |
1977—2022 | 45.1 | 44 | 8.8 | Intellectual Ventures |
Roderick A. Hyde | [5] | 1881 | ![]() |
2001—2022 | 20.9 | 90 | 8.7 | Intellectual Ventures |
Jun Koyama | [6] | 1453 | ![]() |
1991—2022 | 30.8 | 47 | 3.1 | Semiconductor Energy Laboratory |
Gurtej Sandhu | [7] | 1393 | ![]() |
1991—2022 | 30.7 | 45 | 2.5 | Micron |
Paul Lapstun | [8] | 1301 | ![]() |
2000—2022 | 21.4 | 61 | 2.5 | Silverbrook Research |
Clarence T. Tegreene | [9] | 1237 | ![]() |
2000—2022 | 21.2 | 58 | 10.1 | Intellectual Ventures |
Shou-Shan Fan | [10] | 1235 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 16 | 77 | 4.2 | Hon Hai |
Alexander Reznicek | [11] | 1130 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 16 | 71 | 3.9 | IBM |
Leonard Forbes | [12] | 1108 | ![]() |
1991—2019 | 28.7 | 39 | 2.6 | Micron |
Edward K. Y. Jung | [13] | 1105 | ![]() |
1996—2022 | 25.9 | 43 | 8 | Intellectual Ventures |
Thomas Edison | [14] | 1084 | ![]() |
1869—1931 | 63.9 | 17 | NA | Thomas Edison |
Rick Allen Hamilton II | [15] | 1046 | ![]() |
1999—2022 | 23.1 | 45 | 4.2 | IBM |
Donald E. Weder | [16] | 1000 | ![]() |
1978—2017 | 38.4 | 26 | 1.1 | Weder Family Trust |
George Albert Lyon | [17] | 993 | ![]() |
1901—1965 | 64.5 | 15 | 1 | Lyon George Albert |
Jordin T. Kare | [18] | 980 | ![]() |
1992—2021 | 29.2 | 34 | 9.1 | Intellectual Ventures |
Michael J. Sullivan | [19] | 976 | ![]() |
1989—2021 | 32.4 | 30 | 3.8 | Acushnet Holdings |
Jay S. Walker | [20] | 974 | ![]() |
1998—2022 | 23.9 | 41 | 5.2 | Walker Digital |
John F. O'Connor | [21] | 949 | ![]() |
1901—1935 | 33.9 | 28 | NA | William H. Miner |
Melvin De Groote | [22] | 925 | ![]() |
1924—1966 | 41.8 | 22 | NA | Petrolite |
Ahmadreza Rofougaran | [23] | 898 | ![]() |
2002—2022 | 19.8 | 45 | 6.4 | Broadcom |
Nathan Myhrvold | [24] | 897 | ![]() |
1994—2022 | 27.6 | 32 | 11.1 | Intellectual Ventures |
Francis H. Richards | [25] | 894 | ![]() |
1899—1930 | 30.8 | 29 | NA | Francis H. Richards |
Sarbajit K. Rakshit | [26] | 891 | ![]() |
2013—2022 | 9.3 | 96 | 3.4 | IBM |
Jason K. Resch | [27] | 889 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 12.7 | 70 | 4.2 | IBM |
Mark Malamud | [28] | 883 | ![]() |
1997—2022 | 24.8 | 36 | 7.5 | Intellectual Ventures |
Robert W. Lord | [29] | 862 | ![]() |
2003—2022 | 18.3 | 47 | 7.6 | Intellectual Ventures |
Royce A. Levien | [30] | 853 | ![]() |
1997—2022 | 24.8 | 34 | 6.8 | Intellectual Ventures |
William H. Eby | [31] | 849 | ![]() |
1994—2022 | 28 | 30 | 1.2 | Monsanto |
Ruilong Xie | [32] | 843 | ![]() |
2013—2022 | 9.3 | 91 | 4.2 | IBM |
Muriel Y. Ishikawa | [33] | 835 | ![]() |
2002—2022 | 19.7 | 42 | 11.1 | Intellectual Ventures |
Michael K. Gschwind | [34] | 831 | ![]() |
2001—2022 | 21.2 | 39 | 2.6 | IBM |
Esmael H. Dinan | [35] | 828 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 15.8 | 52 | 3.6 | Ofinno |
Clifford A. Pickover | [36] | 807 | ![]() |
1992—2022 | 30.1 | 27 | 3.9 | IBM |
Chih-Chao Yang | [37] | 793 | ![]() |
2003—2022 | 18.4 | 43 | 3.4 | IBM |
Salman Akram | [38] | 775 | ![]() |
1995—2022 | 26.8 | 29 | 2.9 | Micron |
Warren Farnworth | [39] | 774 | ![]() |
1990—2020 | 31.4 | 25 | 2.8 | Micron |
Devendra K. Sadana | [40] | 770 | ![]() |
1983—2022 | 39.2 | 20 | 4.3 | IBM |
SungDuck Chun | [41] | 763 | ![]() |
2007—2022 | 14.4 | 53 | 3.8 | LG |
Jeyhan Karaoguz | [42] | 755 | ![]() |
1996—2021 | 24.7 | 31 | 4.6 | Broadcom |
Carleton Ellis | [43] | 753 | ![]() |
1902—1946 | 43.1 | 17 | NA | Ellis Foster Co |
Ali Khakifirooz | [44] | 743 | ![]() |
2011—2022 | 10.6 | 70 | 4.2 | IBM |
Bruce B. Doris | [45] | 742 | ![]() |
1995—2022 | 27.2 | 27 | 4.2 | IBM |
John M. Santosuosso | [46] | 732 | ![]() |
2001—2021 | 20.3 | 36 | 3.9 | IBM |
Hideo Ando | [47] | 726 | ![]() |
1983—2020 | 36.7 | 20 | 3.1 | Toshiba |
George Spector | [48] | 722 | ![]() |
1964—1998 | 34.4 | 21 | 2.1 | George Spector |
Austin L. Gurney | [49] | 717 | ![]() |
1999—2021 | 21.6 | 33 | 2.9 | Genentech |
Tetsujiro Kondo | [50] | 700 | ![]() |
1987—2021 | 34 | 21 | 3.8 | Sony |
Elihu Thomson | [51] | 696 | ![]() |
1899—1935 | 35.9 | 19 | NA | GE |
Gregory J. Boss | [52] | 666 | ![]() |
2008—2022 | 14.2 | 47 | 4.2 | IBM |
Eric C. Leuthardt | [53] | 665 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 15.3 | 43 | 9.1 | Intellectual Ventures |
Irwin Gerszberg | [54] | 664 | ![]() |
1994—2022 | 28 | 24 | 6.8 | AT&T |
William I. Wood | [55] | 653 | ![]() |
1981—2016 | 35 | 19 | 5.2 | Genentech |
Lisa Seacat DeLuca | [56] | 652 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 13.2 | 49 | 2.7 | IBM |
Simon R. Walmsley | [57] | 651 | ![]() |
1995—2015 | 19.6 | 33 | 3.2 | Silverbrook Research |
Paul S. Henry | [58] | 643 | ![]() |
1978—2022 | 44 | 15 | 6.3 | AT&T |
Edward J. Nowak | [59] | 635 | ![]() |
1979—2021 | 41.4 | 15 | 3 | IBM |
Audrey D. Goddard | [60] | 626 | ![]() |
1997—2021 | 23.5 | 27 | 5.3 | Genentech |
Jean-Philippe Vasseur | [61] | 625 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 16 | 39 | 2.6 | Cisco Systems |
Kie Y. Ahn | [62] | 614 | ![]() |
1976—2018 | 41.8 | 15 | 1.9 | Micron |
Jerome H. Lemelson | [63] | 606 | ![]() |
1953—2009 | 56 | 11 | 1.8 | Jerome Lemelson |
Tadahiro Ohmi | [64] | 597 | ![]() |
1981—2018 | 37.4 | 16 | 4.5 | Tadahiro Ohmi |
Béla Barényi | [65] | 595 | ![]() |
1939—1979 | 39.6 | 15 | NA | Daimler |
Anthony K. Stamper | [66] | 591 | ![]() |
1998—2022 | 23.8 | 25 | 3.4 | IBM |
Stuart C. Salter | [67] | 586 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 12.3 | 48 | 4.8 | Ford |
Ronald S. Cok | [68] | 581 | ![]() |
1986—2022 | 35.4 | 16 | 3.7 | Kodak |
Paul J. Godowski | [69] | 579 | ![]() |
1994—2014 | 19.8 | 29 | 4.2 | Genentech |
Frederick A. Ware | [70] | 578 | ![]() |
1981—2022 | 40.4 | 14 | 2.8 | Rambus |
Jeffrey P. Gambino | [71] | 577 | ![]() |
1992—2021 | 29.1 | 20 | 4.4 | IBM |
Lawrence A. Clevenger | [72] | 577 | ![]() |
1996—2022 | 26 | 22 | 5.1 | IBM |
Robert S. Langer | [73] | 574 | ![]() |
1979—2022 | 42.7 | 13 | 5 | MIT |
Kai-Li Jiang | [74] | 574 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 15.9 | 36 | 4.6 | Hon Hai |
Artur Fischer | [75] | 570 | ![]() |
1951—2006 | 51 | 11 | 1.3 | Artur Fischer |
Victoria Y. H. Wood | [76] | 567 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 12.8 | 44 | 12.2 | Intellectual Ventures |
Farhad Barzegar | [77] | 554 | ![]() |
1988—2022 | 33.8 | 16 | 6.9 | AT&T |
Louis L. Hsu | [78] | 551 | ![]() |
1988—2016 | 28.1 | 20 | 4.2 | IBM |
Belgacem Haba | [79] | 548 | ![]() |
1991—2022 | 30.4 | 18 | 3.7 | Tessera |
Pouya Hashemi | [80] | 544 | ![]() |
2013—2022 | 8.3 | 66 | 4.2 | IBM |
Muhammad A. Kazmi | [81] | 539 | ![]() |
2010—2022 | 11.9 | 45 | 2.9 | Ericsson |
Edwin H. Land | [82] | 535 | ![]() |
1933—1990 | 56.5 | 9 | NA | Polaroid |
Thomas M. Willis III | [83] | 527 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 16 | 33 | 6.5 | AT&T |
Tenko Yamashita | [84] | 526 | ![]() |
2005—2022 | 16.5 | 32 | 4 | IBM |
Mark I. Gardner | [85] | 525 | ![]() |
1994—2022 | 28 | 19 | 2.4 | AMD |
Henri Dreyfus | [86] | 524 | ![]() |
1916—1945 | 29.1 | 18 | NA | Henri Dreyfus |
Valentina Salapura | [87] | 524 | ![]() |
2004—2022 | 17.3 | 30 | 3.8 | IBM |
Stephen E. Terry | [88] | 516 | ![]() |
2003—2022 | 18.7 | 28 | 3.7 | InterDigital |
Clyde C. Farmer | [89] | 513 | ![]() |
1905—1960 | 54.6 | 9 | NA | Westinghouse Air Brake |
Heinz Focke | [90] | 512 | ![]() |
1965—2013 | 48.3 | 11 | 3.1 | Focke & Co. |
Ravi K. Arimilli | [91] | 508 | ![]() |
1992—2019 | 26.8 | 19 | 3.2 | IBM |
Louis H. Morin | [92] | 503 | ![]() |
1924—1969 | 44.6 | 11 | NA | Louis H. Morin |
Tobin A. King | [93] | 501 | ![]() |
2000—2018 | 17.6 | 28 | 2.9 | Silverbrook Research |
John L. Melanson | [94] | 498 | ![]() |
1978—2022 | 43.6 | 11 | 3.4 | Cirrus Logic |
Moon-il Lee | [95] | 495 | ![]() |
2010—2022 | 11.4 | 43 | 5.3 | LG |
Brian M. O'Connell | [96] | 493 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 12.9 | 38 | 4.1 | IBM |
James M. Hart | [97] | 489 | ![]() |
1988—2022 | 33.4 | 15 | 3 | General Motors |
Robert S. Chau | [98] | 488 | ![]() |
1993—2021 | 28.2 | 17 | 7.6 | Intel |
Michael (S.) Tsirkin | [99] | 488 | ![]() |
2012—2022 | 9.8 | 50 | 1.4 | Red Hat |
Jack A. Mandelman | [100] | 481 | ![]() |
1987—2014 | 27.4 | 18 | 3.5 | IBM |
Jack T. Kavalieros | [101] | 479 | ![]() |
2000—2022 | 21.5 | 22 | 7.3 | Intel |
Brent A. Anderson | [102] | 473 | ![]() |
2001—2022 | 20.5 | 23 | 3.7 | IBM |
Assaf Natanzon | [103] | 467 | ![]() |
2007—2022 | 15 | 31 | 2.9 | Dell EMC |
Robert Bennett | [104] | 466 | ![]() |
2002—2022 | 19.8 | 24 | 7.2 | AT&T |
Donald J. Barnickel | [105] | 461 | ![]() |
2000—2022 | 21.9 | 21 | 7.3 | AT&T |
Zhijun Cai | [106] | 460 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 16.1 | 29 | 3.9 | BlackBerry |
Eric J. Brandwine | [107] | 460 | ![]() |
2010—2022 | 11.5 | 40 | 3.4 | Amazon |
Vincent J. Zimmer | [108] | 459 | ![]() |
1999—2022 | 22.6 | 20 | 4.5 | Intel |
Eberhard Ammermann | [109] | 452 | ![]() |
1979—2020 | 41.2 | 11 | 6.8 | BASF |
Thomas E. Murray | [110] | 449 | ![]() |
1891—1940 | 49.8 | 9 | NA | Thomas E. Murray |
James E. Bostick | [111] | 447 | ![]() |
1993—2022 | 28.5 | 16 | 4.1 | IBM |
Hongyong Zhang | [112] | 440 | ![]() |
1993—2016 | 23.6 | 19 | 2.6 | Semiconductor Energy Laboratory |
Scott H. Wittkopp | [113] | 437 | ![]() |
2001—2020 | 19.9 | 22 | 3.4 | General Motors |
Gary W. Grube | [114] | 434 | ![]() |
1991—2022 | 30.9 | 14 | 5.4 | IBM |
Xuemin (Sherman) Chen | [115] | 433 | ![]() |
1997—2021 | 24.5 | 18 | 4.1 | Broadcom |
Bengt Lindoff | [116] | 431 | ![]() |
2000—2022 | 21.7 | 20 | 5.5 | Ericsson |
John M. Ganci | [117] | 430 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 13 | 33 | 4.1 | IBM |
Paul Marinier | [118] | 425 | ![]() |
2004—2022 | 17.8 | 24 | 4.8 | InterDigital |
Qinghua Li | [119] | 422 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 16.2 | 26 | 5.1 | Intel |
Greg R. Dhuse | [120] | 419 | ![]() |
2011—2022 | 11.1 | 38 | 5.2 | IBM |
John Hays Hammond, Jr. | [121] | 417 | ![]() |
1912—1967 | 54.8 | 8 | NA | John Hays Hammond, Jr. |
Hossein Eslambolchi | [122] | 417 | ![]() |
1993—2021 | 28.1 | 15 | 2.3 | AT&T |
Cary L. Bates | [123] | 415 | ![]() |
1994—2022 | 27.5 | 15 | 3.6 | IBM |
Timothy J. Slegel | [124] | 415 | ![]() |
1993—2022 | 29.3 | 14 | 5.3 | IBM |
Dean L. Kamen | [125] | 414 | ![]() |
1979—2022 | 43.2 | 10 | 5.6 | DEKA |
Wilhelm Brandes | [126] | 411 | ![]() |
1976—2010 | 34 | 12 | 3.9 | Bayer |
Bor Z. Jang | [127] | 405 | ![]() |
1996—2022 | 26.1 | 16 | 2.5 | Nanotek Instruments |
Jeffrey E. Stahmann | [128] | 403 | ![]() |
1994—2022 | 27.3 | 15 | 4.8 | Cardiac Pacemakers |
Andrew J. Ouderkirk | [129] | 403 | ![]() |
1989—2022 | 33 | 12 | 5 | 3M |
Stanford R. Ovshinsky | [130] | 400 | ![]() |
1952—2012 | 59.8 | 7 | 3.3 | Energy Conversion Devices |
Paul K. Dellock | [131] | 397 | ![]() |
2002—2022 | 20 | 20 | 4.7 | Ford |
Philip D. Nguyen | [132] | 395 | ![]() |
1992—2022 | 30.1 | 13 | 3.4 | Halliburton |
Paul W. Dent | [133] | 394 | ![]() |
1984—2022 | 37.3 | 11 | 2.1 | Ericsson |
Akira Nakazawa | [134] | 393 | ![]() |
1980—2016 | 35.4 | 11 | 5.3 | Silverbrook Research |
Wesley B. Legette | [135] | 389 | ![]() |
2011—2022 | 11.1 | 35 | 5.4 | IBM |
Josef Theurer | [136] | 388 | ![]() |
1958—2016 | 58 | 7 | 1.9 | Plasser & Theurer |
David V. Horak | [137] | 388 | ![]() |
1992—2020 | 27.2 | 14 | 4.9 | IBM |
Robert Baldemair | [138] | 388 | ![]() |
2007—2022 | 15.2 | 26 | 6.3 | Ericsson |
Wael W. Diab | [139] | 386 | ![]() |
2003—2021 | 18.3 | 21 | 4.5 | Broadcom |
Paul R. Bastide | [140] | 383 | ![]() |
2013—2022 | 9.1 | 42 | 3.6 | IBM |
Andrew D. Baptist | [141] | 380 | ![]() |
2012—2022 | 9.8 | 39 | 5.5 | IBM |
Stefan Parkvall | [142] | 378 | ![]() |
2003—2022 | 19 | 20 | 6.3 | Ericsson |
William Daniel Hillis | [143] | 378 | ![]() |
1986—2022 | 35.8 | 11 | 7.3 | Intellectual Ventures |
Hans-Joachim Santel | [144] | 377 | ![]() |
1986—2013 | 27.6 | 14 | 6.3 | Bayer |
Patrick J. O'Sullivan | [145] | 377 | ![]() |
2008—2022 | 13.8 | 27 | 4.5 | IBM |
Elizabeth A. Sweeney | [146] | 376 | ![]() |
2010—2020 | 10.1 | 37 | 9.2 | Intellectual Ventures |
Hanson S. Gifford III | [147] | 376 | ![]() |
1987—2022 | 34.7 | 11 | 5.2 | Medtronic |
Carl J. Radens | [148] | 376 | ![]() |
1994—2022 | 28.1 | 13 | 4 | IBM |
Gisela Lorenz | [149] | 374 | ![]() |
1990—2015 | 25.4 | 15 | 6.9 | BASF |
Norman M. Berry | [150] | 374 | ![]() |
2006—2021 | 15.6 | 24 | 5.8 | Silverbrook Research |
Christopher B. Locke | [151] | 374 | ![]() |
2010—2022 | 12.2 | 31 | 3.1 | KCI |
George P. Liang | [152] | 371 | ![]() |
1983—2017 | 34.1 | 11 | 1 | Kratos |
Garry R. Jackson | [153] | 367 | ![]() |
2001—2016 | 15 | 24 | 5.4 | Silverbrook Research |
Steven L. Teig | [154] | 366 | ![]() |
1995—2022 | 27.1 | 14 | 3 | Cadence Design Systems |
Aruna Zhamu | [155] | 366 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 12.7 | 29 | 2.8 | Nanotek Instruments |
George Westinghouse | [156] | 361 | ![]() |
1868—1918 | 50.5 | 7 | NA | George Westinghouse |
Keith R. Walker | [157] | 360 | ![]() |
2003—2022 | 18.4 | 20 | 4.4 | IBM |
Venson M. Shaw | [158] | 359 | ![]() |
1995—2022 | 26.2 | 14 | 2.3 | AT&T |
Ajith K. Kumar | [159] | 359 | ![]() |
1984—2022 | 37.5 | 10 | 5.4 | GE |
Mark W. Kroll | [160] | 357 | ![]() |
1987—2022 | 34.5 | 10 | 2.1 | Pacesetter |
Zvi Or-Bach | [161] | 355 | ![]() |
1982—2022 | 39.3 | 9 | 2.3 | MonolithIC 3D Inc. |
Siddharth S. Oroskar | [162] | 354 | ![]() |
2010—2021 | 11 | 32 | 2.9 | Sprint |
Kulvir S. Bhogal | [163] | 354 | ![]() |
2003—2022 | 18.9 | 19 | 3.9 | IBM |
Daniel J. Winarski | [164] | 351 | ![]() |
1982—2021 | 39.2 | 9 | 4.6 | IBM |
Robert R. Schmidt | [165] | 350 | ![]() |
1971—2005 | 34.4 | 10 | 4.5 | Bayer |
Chung-Lung (Kevin) Shum | [166] | 350 | ![]() |
2001—2022 | 20.8 | 17 | 4.6 | IBM |
Eric J. Horvitz | [167] | 347 | ![]() |
1997—2021 | 23.7 | 15 | 5.6 | Microsoft |
Carlos Cordeiro | [168] | 347 | ![]() |
2010—2022 | 11.7 | 30 | 4 | Intel |
Brian S. Doyle | [169] | 343 | ![]() |
1998—2022 | 24.1 | 14 | 7.2 | Intel |
Martin G. Keen | [170] | 341 | ![]() |
2016—2022 | 6.2 | 55 | 4 | IBM |
Christian P. Jacobi | [171] | 340 | ![]() |
1999—2022 | 22.9 | 15 | 5.5 | IBM |
Jasinder P. Singh | [172] | 338 | ![]() |
2010—2021 | 11.2 | 30 | 3 | Sprint |
Choonghyun Lee | [173] | 338 | ![]() |
2017—2022 | 5.1 | 66 | 4 | IBM |
Cyprian E. Uzoh | [174] | 336 | ![]() |
1998—2022 | 23.8 | 14 | 3.2 | Invensas |
Sandeep R. Patil | [175] | 333 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 13.2 | 25 | 4.2 | IBM |
Jennifer L. Hillman | [176] | 332 | ![]() |
1997—2014 | 16.8 | 20 | 4.4 | Incyte |
Hyukjin Chae | [177] | 332 | ![]() |
2012—2022 | 10.2 | 33 | 3.8 | LG |
Michael L. Fripp | [178] | 331 | ![]() |
2004—2022 | 18.3 | 18 | 3.3 | Halliburton |
Ned M. Smith | [179] | 330 | ![]() |
2007—2022 | 15 | 22 | 4.3 | Intel |
Jong-Kae J. Fwu | [180] | 325 | ![]() |
1999—2022 | 23.3 | 14 | 4.8 | Intel |
Frank J. Viola | [181] | 324 | ![]() |
1981—2022 | 41 | 8 | 3.6 | Covidien |
Liang Liu | [182] | 323 | ![]() |
2005—2022 | 16.8 | 19 | 4.5 | Hon Hai |
Corville O. Allen | [183] | 318 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 13.2 | 24 | 3.3 | IBM |
Alexei V. Davydov | [184] | 318 | ![]() |
2008—2022 | 14.2 | 22 | 5.7 | Intel |
Victor S. Moore | [185] | 317 | ![]() |
1982—2021 | 39 | 8 | 4.3 | IBM |
Ravi Pillarisetty | [186] | 312 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 12.4 | 25 | 6.1 | Intel |
Dorin Comaniciu | [187] | 311 | ![]() |
2003—2022 | 18.7 | 17 | 6.4 | Siemens |
Victoria Smith | [188] | 308 | ![]() |
2005—2020 | 15.1 | 20 | 5.6 | Genentech |
Altug Koker | [189] | 307 | ![]() |
2002—2022 | 19.6 | 16 | 11.1 | Intel |
Craig M. Trim | [190] | 307 | ![]() |
2013—2022 | 9.2 | 33 | 4.4 | IBM |
Ramachandra Divakaruni | [191] | 305 | ![]() |
2000—2021 | 21.5 | 14 | 3.8 | IBM |
Kiseon Ryu | [192] | 304 | ![]() |
2012—2022 | 9.7 | 31 | 4.4 | LG |
Kyungmin Park | [193] | 304 | ![]() |
2014—2022 | 8 | 38 | 5.2 | Ofinno |
Daniel C. Edelstein | [194] | 303 | ![]() |
1991—2022 | 30.8 | 10 | 3.2 | IBM |
Hui Zang | [195] | 301 | ![]() |
2014—2021 | 7.2 | 42 | 4 | GlobalFoundries |
Troy A. Manning | [196] | 301 | ![]() |
1994—2022 | 27.6 | 11 | 2.1 | Micron |
Brent Keeth | [197] | 300 | ![]() |
1994—2022 | 27.2 | 11 | 3.2 | Micron |
Robert G. LeTourneau | [198] | 299 | ![]() |
1923—1968 | 45.1 | 7 | NA | LeTourneau Technologies |
Sreekar Marupaduga | [199] | 299 | ![]() |
2010—2022 | 11.4 | 26 | 2.3 | Sprint |
Madhusudan K. Iyengar | [200] | 297 | ![]() |
2005—2022 | 16.1 | 18 | 5 | IBM |
Sheldon K. Meredith | [201] | 297 | ![]() |
1996—2022 | 25.2 | 12 | 2.9 | AT&T |
Abhishek R. Appu | [202] | 297 | ![]() |
2018—2022 | 4.1 | 72 | 10.3 | Intel |
Nathan J. Peterson | [203] | 296 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 16.3 | 18 | 4.3 | Lenovo |
Adam Heller | [204] | 295 | ![]() |
1968—2022 | 53.4 | 6 | 4 | Abbott Laboratories |
Christopher J. Dawson | [205] | 294 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 15.7 | 19 | 3.9 | IBM |
Takeshi Chujoh | [206] | 294 | ![]() |
1995—2022 | 26.9 | 11 | 3.3 | Toshiba |
Elmoustapha Ould-Ahmed-Vall | [207] | 293 | ![]() |
2015—2022 | 7 | 42 | 9.2 | Intel |
William R. Tonti | [208] | 292 | ![]() |
1994—2020 | 25.6 | 11 | 4.7 | IBM |
Joydeep Ray | [209] | 292 | ![]() |
2015—2022 | 6.9 | 42 | 10.5 | Intel |
Zine-Eddine Boutaghou | [210] | 290 | ![]() |
1994—2018 | 24.1 | 12 | 2.6 | Seagate Technology |
Xin Miao | [211] | 289 | ![]() |
2016—2022 | 5.8 | 50 | 4.1 | IBM |
Manu J. Kurian | [212] | 289 | ![]() |
2015—2022 | 7.2 | 40 | 2.5 | Bank of America |
Jung-Fu T. Cheng | [213] | 289 | ![]() |
2003—2022 | 18.4 | 16 | 3.9 | Ericsson |
Jeffrey W. Sleight | [214] | 288 | ![]() |
1998—2020 | 21.7 | 13 | 4 | IBM |
Su Liu | [215] | 288 | ![]() |
2012—2022 | 10.3 | 28 | 3.9 | IBM |
Michael A. Rothman | [216] | 285 | ![]() |
2001—2022 | 20.2 | 14 | 3.6 | Intel |
Jeongki Kim | [217] | 285 | ![]() |
2012—2022 | 9.7 | 29 | 4.8 | LG |
Rajiv V. Joshi | [218] | 283 | ![]() |
1986—2022 | 35.5 | 8 | 3.1 | IBM |
Craig E. Hampel | [219] | 282 | ![]() |
1996—2022 | 25.6 | 11 | 3.3 | Rambus |
Marko Radosavljevic | [220] | 282 | ![]() |
2005—2022 | 17.2 | 16 | 4.9 | Intel |
Austin G. Walters | [221] | 281 | ![]() |
2018—2022 | 3.8 | 74 | 5.1 | Capital One |
Diana Pani | [222] | 280 | ![]() |
2008—2022 | 13.2 | 21 | 4.3 | InterDigital |
Vinodh Gopal | [223] | 280 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 13.2 | 21 | 4.9 | Intel |
Bran Ferren | [224] | 280 | ![]() |
1986—2022 | 36 | 8 | 6.8 | Intellectual Ventures |
Aaron K. Baughman | [225] | 278 | ![]() |
2011—2022 | 10.6 | 26 | 4 | IBM |
Justin Lewis | [226] | 278 | ![]() |
2014—2022 | 7.7 | 36 | 2.2 | |
Ilya Volvovski | [227] | 276 | ![]() |
2011—2022 | 11 | 25 | 5.9 | IBM |
David C. Gibbon | [228] | 275 | ![]() |
1995—2022 | 26.5 | 10 | 5.5 | AT&T |
Robert P. Loce | [229] | 273 | ![]() |
1987—2022 | 34.8 | 8 | 4 | Xerox |
Burkay Donderici | [230] | 273 | ![]() |
2014—2022 | 7.5 | 36 | 2.6 | Halliburton |
Gary D. Cudak | [231] | 271 | ![]() |
2013—2022 | 8.8 | 31 | 4.6 | Lenovo |
Jonathan D. Dunne | [232] | 271 | ![]() |
2014—2022 | 8 | 34 | 4.2 | IBM |
Yuan Y. Zhu | [233] | 269 | ![]() |
2011—2022 | 10.4 | 26 | 5.1 | Intel |
Al Chakra | [234] | 269 | ![]() |
2010—2022 | 11.8 | 23 | 3.8 | IBM |
Imad Libbus | [235] | 268 | ![]() |
2007—2022 | 15 | 18 | 3.5 | Cardiac Pacemakers |
Hartley Owen | [236] | 267 | ![]() |
1976—2010 | 33.8 | 8 | 2.1 | Mobil |
Eran Steinberg | [237] | 267 | ![]() |
1996—2021 | 25.4 | 11 | 5 | FotoNation |
Olga Bandman | [238] | 266 | ![]() |
1997—2018 | 21 | 13 | 6.9 | Incyte |
Iana Siomina | [239] | 266 | ![]() |
2012—2022 | 10.1 | 26 | 2.6 | Ericsson |
Matthew B. Trevathan | [240] | 264 | ![]() |
2005—2022 | 16.3 | 16 | 5 | IBM |
Gilbert M. Wolrich | [241] | 263 | ![]() |
1986—2022 | 35.4 | 7 | 6 | Intel |
John A. Colgrove | [242] | 262 | ![]() |
1991—2022 | 31.1 | 8 | 4.6 | Pure Storage |
Stephen G. Perlman | [243] | 262 | ![]() |
1989—2022 | 32.5 | 8 | 3 | Rearden |
Hua Zhou | [244] | 262 | ![]() |
2012—2022 | 10.2 | 26 | 5.5 | Fujitsu |
Santokh S. Badesha | [245] | 260 | ![]() |
1983—2022 | 38.8 | 7 | 5.9 | Xerox |
Robert J. Stacey | [246] | 259 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 12.9 | 20 | 4.4 | Intel |
Yoshihiro Kikuchi | [247] | 258 | ![]() |
1994—2018 | 23.6 | 11 | 3.3 | Toshiba |
Marco Pistoia | [248] | 258 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 15.8 | 16 | 3.9 | IBM |
Robert C. Valentine | [249] | 257 | ![]() |
1997—2022 | 24.5 | 10 | 7.6 | Intel |
Gilbert W. Dewey | [250] | 257 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 15.7 | 16 | 6.8 | Intel |
Daniel Larsson | [251] | 257 | ![]() |
2012—2022 | 10.1 | 25 | 3.5 | Ericsson |
Harry (Tom) Graef | [252] | 256 | ![]() |
1976—2020 | 43 | 6 | 7.3 | Diebold Nixdorf |
Ning Li | [253] | 256 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 16.1 | 16 | 4 | IBM |
Johnny M. Shieh | [254] | 254 | ![]() |
1996—2021 | 25.5 | 10 | 4.3 | IBM |
Benzion Landa | [255] | 253 | ![]() |
1976—2022 | 45.4 | 6 | 4.5 | Savin |
James R. Kraemer | [256] | 252 | ![]() |
2008—2022 | 13.6 | 19 | 3.3 | IBM |
Stephen M. Trimberger | [257] | 250 | ![]() |
1988—2021 | 33 | 8 | 1.7 | Xilinx |
Dale W. Malik | [258] | 248 | ![]() |
1995—2021 | 26 | 10 | 1.7 | AT&T |
Ilyas Mohammed | [259] | 248 | ![]() |
2003—2022 | 18.3 | 14 | 3.8 | Tessera |
Louis B. Rosenberg | [260] | 247 | ![]() |
1995—2022 | 26.6 | 9 | 1.6 | Immersion |
Brant L. Candelore | [261] | 247 | ![]() |
1998—2022 | 23.8 | 10 | 2.7 | Sony |
Rhonda L. Childress | [262] | 247 | ![]() |
2004—2022 | 17.9 | 14 | 3.9 | IBM |
Johan Rune | [263] | 247 | ![]() |
1998—2022 | 23.3 | 11 | 6.6 | Ericsson |
Nobuyuki Taniguchi | [264] | 245 | ![]() |
1979—2015 | 35.8 | 7 | 4.6 | Minolta |
Gerald F. McBrearty | [265] | 244 | ![]() |
1997—2021 | 24.2 | 10 | 3.8 | IBM |
Chen Zhang | [266] | 244 | ![]() |
2017—2022 | 5 | 49 | 4 | IBM |
Seung H. Kang | [267] | 242 | ![]() |
2002—2022 | 19.9 | 12 | 4.3 | Qualcomm |
Philip S. Yu | [268] | 241 | ![]() |
1982—2018 | 39 | 6 | 3.3 | IBM |
Matthew V. Metz | [269] | 241 | ![]() |
2004—2022 | 18 | 13 | 7.8 | Intel |
S. Christopher Gladwin | [270] | 241 | ![]() |
1999—2022 | 23.1 | 10 | 5.4 | IBM |
Thomas J. Kennedy III | [271] | 240 | ![]() |
1992—2021 | 29.7 | 8 | 4.6 | Callaway |
Vijay Narayanan | [272] | 240 | ![]() |
2004—2022 | 17.5 | 14 | 4.8 | IBM |
Omer R. Koseoglu | [273] | 240 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 12.7 | 19 | 1.9 | Saudi Aramco |
David M. Durham | [274] | 239 | ![]() |
2003—2022 | 18.8 | 13 | 5 | Intel |
Mark A. Horowitz | [275] | 238 | ![]() |
1993—2022 | 28.4 | 8 | 5.2 | Rambus |
Vivek K. De | [276] | 238 | ![]() |
1998—2022 | 23.3 | 10 | 5.5 | Intel |
Martin Langhammer | [277] | 238 | ![]() |
2001—2022 | 20.4 | 12 | 2 | Altera |
Timothy M. Robinson | [278] | 238 | ![]() |
2010—2022 | 12.2 | 20 | 3.5 | KCI |
Anand S. Murthy | [279] | 236 | ![]() |
2001—2022 | 21 | 11 | 7.3 | Intel |
Neelakantan Sundaresan | [280] | 233 | ![]() |
1999—2022 | 22.6 | 10 | 3.2 | eBay |
Michael A. Guillorn | [281] | 232 | ![]() |
2003—2022 | 18.3 | 13 | 3.9 | IBM |
Matthew N. Sharifi | [282] | 231 | ![]() |
2012—2022 | 9.8 | 24 | 2.8 | |
James H. Pratt | [283] | 230 | ![]() |
2011—2022 | 10.9 | 21 | 3.7 | AT&T |
Steven J. Simske | [284] | 229 | ![]() |
2007—2022 | 21.4 | 11 | 3 | HP |
Mukta Ghate Farooq | [285] | 228 | ![]() |
1993—2022 | 28.4 | 8 | 3.9 | IBM |
Anil Agiwal | [286] | 228 | ![]() |
2011—2022 | 10.5 | 22 | 2.8 | Samsung |
James W. Seaman | [287] | 227 | ![]() |
2005—2021 | 16.4 | 14 | 4.1 | IBM |
Dureseti Chidambarrao | [288] | 227 | ![]() |
1995—2022 | 26.3 | 9 | 3.9 | IBM |
Vijay Ekambaram | [289] | 227 | ![]() |
2015—2022 | 6.3 | 36 | 3.8 | IBM |
Gunnar Mildh | [290] | 227 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 16 | 14 | 6.3 | Ericsson |
Jeremy R. Fox | [291] | 227 | ![]() |
2017—2022 | 4.4 | 52 | 3.8 | IBM |
Shogo Mochizuki | [292] | 226 | ![]() |
2015—2022 | 6.8 | 33 | 4.2 | IBM |
Rajarshi Gupta | [293] | 225 | ![]() |
2004—2022 | 18.3 | 12 | 3.7 | Qualcomm |
Jian Gao | [294] | 225 | ![]() |
2016—2022 | 6.3 | 36 | 4.9 | Dell EMC |
Kunal R. Parekh | [295] | 224 | ![]() |
1996—2022 | 25.5 | 9 | 3.8 | Micron |
John C. Mese | [296] | 224 | ![]() |
2006—2022 | 16.3 | 14 | 4.1 | Lenovo |
Fredrik Gunnarsson | [297] | 224 | ![]() |
2002—2022 | 19.6 | 11 | 6.9 | Ericsson |
Solomon B. Trainin | [298] | 222 | ![]() |
1997—2022 | 24.7 | 9 | 3.3 | Intel |
Philippe Armangau | [299] | 222 | ![]() |
2002—2022 | 19.7 | 11 | 3.7 | Dell EMC |
Robert T. Love | [300] | 222 | ![]() |
1994—2022 | 27.4 | 8 | 4.7 | Motorola |
Maulik K. Shah | [301] | 221 | ![]() |
2011—2021 | 10.2 | 22 | 3.5 | Sprint |
Gilbert A. Neiger | [302] | 221 | ![]() |
2000—2022 | 21.6 | 10 | 9.9 | Intel |
Carlos M. Pignataro | [303] | 221 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 12.9 | 17 | 3.6 | Cisco Systems |
Eric M. Zavesky | [304] | 221 | ![]() |
2012—2022 | 9.9 | 22 | 4.4 | AT&T |
Paul Ian Mackey | [305] | 220 | ![]() |
2008—2016 | 8.8 | 25 | 5.7 | Silverbrook Research |
Yingda Dong | [306] | 219 | ![]() |
2007—2022 | 14.2 | 15 | 3.3 | SanDisk |
Alexander A. Maltsev | [307] | 219 | ![]() |
2007—2022 | 14.7 | 15 | 4.5 | Intel |
Sebastian T. Ventrone | [308] | 218 | ![]() |
1989—2021 | 32.4 | 7 | 4.2 | IBM |
Dung Q. Nguyen | [309] | 217 | ![]() |
1995—2022 | 26.4 | 8 | 6.1 | IBM |
Jed H. Rankin | [310] | 215 | ![]() |
2000—2021 | 21.2 | 10 | 4.2 | IBM |
Jonathan D. Bradbury | [311] | 215 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 12.9 | 17 | 4.9 | IBM |
Lyle W. Paczkowski | [312] | 215 | ![]() |
2008—2022 | 13.7 | 16 | 3 | Sprint |
Jonathan J. Hull | [313] | 214 | ![]() |
1995—2020 | 25 | 9 | 3.6 | Ricoh |
Shuji Nakamura | [314] | 214 | ![]() |
1994—2022 | 27.8 | 8 | 4.9 | UC Santa Barbara |
Arup Bhattacharyya | [315] | 214 | ![]() |
1974—2022 | 47.9 | 4 | 1.5 | Micron |
Lin Sun | [316] | 214 | ![]() |
2010—2022 | 11.2 | 19 | 3.8 | IBM |
Bruce B. Pedersen | [317] | 213 | ![]() |
1992—2020 | 27.9 | 8 | 2.4 | Altera |
Akira Goda | [318] | 213 | ![]() |
2003—2022 | 18.6 | 11 | 3.8 | Micron |
Gregory J. McAvoy | [319] | 212 | ![]() |
2003—2020 | 17.6 | 12 | 3.8 | Silverbrook Research |
Sergey Y. Shumarayev | [320] | 212 | ![]() |
2001—2021 | 20.2 | 10 | 4.3 | Altera |
Michael K. Bugenhagen | [321] | 211 | ![]() |
2008—2022 | 13.3 | 16 | 2.2 | Lumen Technologies |
Michael Bender | [322] | 211 | ![]() |
2010—2022 | 11.5 | 18 | 4.1 | IBM |
Paul W. Coteus | [323] | 210 | ![]() |
1992—2021 | 29.4 | 7 | 8.1 | IBM |
Emily H. Qi | [324] | 209 | ![]() |
2004—2022 | 17.9 | 12 | 3 | Intel |
Robert E. Loredo | [325] | 208 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 12.4 | 17 | 3.8 | IBM |
Samuel N. Zellner | [326] | 207 | ![]() |
1994—2022 | 27.5 | 8 | 2.6 | AT&T |
Robert E. Fischell | [327] | 206 | ![]() |
1963—2021 | 43.4 | 5 | 3.6 | Angel Medical Systems |
Hiroshi (You) Yoshioka | [328] | 205 | ![]() |
1997—2015 | 17.5 | 12 | 2 | Toshiba |
Patrick B. Usoro | [329] | 205 | ![]() |
1999—2016 | 16.9 | 12 | 4.1 | General Motors |
Scott B. Herner | [330] | 205 | ![]() |
2001—2022 | 20.5 | 10 | 2.1 | SanDisk |
Paul K. Pickard | [331] | 205 | ![]() |
2007—2022 | 14.4 | 14 | 2.8 | Wolfspeed |
Manish Motwani | [332] | 204 | ![]() |
2011—2022 | 10.7 | 19 | 5.7 | IBM |
Christopher J. Hardee | [333] | 204 | ![]() |
2009—2022 | 12.5 | 16 | 3.5 | IBM |
Shipeng Li | [334] | 203 | ![]() |
2000—2022 | 21.4 | 9 | 4 | Microsoft |
Sadeg M. Faris | [335] | 202 | ![]() |
1979—2018 | 39.2 | 5 | 1.6 | Reveo |
Zhi Cui | [336] | 202 | ![]() |
2010—2022 | 11.5 | 18 | 3.1 | AT&T |
Sorin Faibish | [337] | 202 | ![]() |
1995—2022 | 26.6 | 8 | 3.7 | Dell EMC |
Barrett M. Kreiner | [338] | 201 | ![]() |
2001—2022 | 20.4 | 10 | 2.7 | AT&T |
This table is usually updated every Tuesday evening in US Eastern time, and is current as of May 3, 2022.
The columns are defined as follows:
- Inventor: The name of the inventor.
- Patents: The number of utility patents that have been issued. Only utility patents (or the international equivalent) are listed, as a utility patent is a patent for an invention. Not all patents are for inventions. Other patent types include: design patents for the ornamental design of an object; plant patents for plant varieties; and reissue patents, where a correction is made to an already granted patent. This list does not include patent applications (patents pending) as there is no guarantee that a patent application actually describes a novel invention until the patent is granted.
- Residence: The country of inventor's residence listed in their most recent patent issuance.
- Patent Years: The first and last year in which an inventor received a patent issuance.
- Years: The number of years from first issuance to most recent issuance.
- Patents / Year: The average number of patents received per year [Patents column divided by Years column, rounded].
- Inventors / Patent: The average number of inventors listed on the inventor's most recent 50 patents as of September 7, 2021 or on the date the inventor was added to the table if later. "NA" signifies the inventor was active prior to digital records. Data is automated from the USPTO. This column requires 50 page loads per inventor, which is over 15,000 in total. Pages are not requested in parallel, wait for prior request to complete, and pause between requests to never burden the source. Therefore, it will seldom be refreshed due to automation run time and need to protect the source.
- Majority assignment: The entity that has the most patents assigned from an inventor's portfolio. This is current and not original assignment. It is usually, but not always an indication of which company the inventor worked at for the majority of their patent activity.
Threshold for inclusion
As the average number of patents per inventor is around 3, some sources define prolific inventors as five times above the average (in terms of patents), leading to a threshold of 15 patents.[Info 4] However, this table currently has an arbitrary cut-off limit for inclusion of 200 patents. This is purely for practical reasons – there are tens of thousands of inventors with more than 15 patents. The threshold of 200 patents means that some famous prolific inventors such as Nikola Tesla are not included in this list, as Tesla had 111 patents.[Info 5][Info 6]
Significance of inventions
This table is a sortable list of the most prolific inventors as measured by utility patents granted. It does not include other types of invention, such as inventions that were never applied for nor granted, for which there is no known source. Nor does the table attempt to measure the significance of an inventor and their inventions. The significance of inventions is often not apparent until many decades after the invention has been made. For recent inventors, it is not yet possible to determine their place in history.
Various published lists
Rankings of prolific inventors have been published at various times. However, until the patent records were digitized, these lists were very tedious to prepare, as many thousands of patent records had to be checked manually. Even after digitization, it is still not a simple process. While the USPTO keeps statistics for annual rankings of inventions assigned to companies, it no longer publishes rankings of individual inventors. The last such list was published by the USPTO in 1998.[Info 7] Also, patents predating 1976 have not yet been digitized in the USPTO records. This means that patents before 1976 will not be included in a USPTO search by inventor name, and the number of patents granted before 1976 must be added to current searches.
Popular Science (1936)
In January 1936, Popular Science published a list of the "most prolific living inventors to be found in America today".
Rank | Inventor | U.S. Patents |
---|---|---|
1 | John F. O'Connor | 949 |
2 | Elihu Thomson | 696 |
3 | Carleton Ellis | 648 |
4 | Henry A. Wise Wood | 434 |
5 | John Hays Hammond Jr. | 360 |
6 | Clyde C. Farmer | 344 |
7 | Ethan I. Dodds | 321 |
8 | Edward Weston | 309 |
Thomas Edison was not included in the list, as he died in 1931, five years earlier.
Time Magazine (2000)
On December 4, 2000, Time Magazine published a list of the "top five inventors".
Rank | Inventor | U.S. Patents |
---|---|---|
1 | Thomas Edison | 1,093 |
2 | Melvin De Groote | 925 |
3 | Francis H. Richards | 894 |
4 | Elihu Thomson | 696 |
5 | Jerome Lemelson | 554 |
This list only included U.S. inventors, so omitted Canadian inventor George Albert Lyon, with 993 U.S. patents at the time of publication, Japanese inventor Shunpei Yamazaki, with 745 U.S. patents, and Béla Barényi, with 595 German patents. Also omitted were John F. O'Connor with 949 U.S. patents, and Carleton Ellis, with 753 U.S. patents at the time of publication.
USA Today (2005)
On December 13, 2005, USA Today published a list of "the top 10 living U.S. patent holders":[Info 8]
Rank | Inventor | U.S. Patents |
---|---|---|
1 | Shunpei Yamazaki | 1,432 |
2 | Donald Weder | 1,322 |
3 | Kia Silverbrook | 810 |
4 | George Spector | 723 |
5 | Gurtej Sandhu | 576 |
6 | Warren Farnworth | 547 |
7 | Salman Akram | 527 |
8 | Mark Gardner | 512 |
9 | Heinz Focke | 508 |
10 | Joseph Straeter | 477 |
This research was performed by ipIQ of Chicago (now "The Patent Board"[Info 9]) and 1790 Analytics[Info 10] of New Jersey. This list only considered living inventors, and thus did not include prolific inventors such as Thomas Edison, Melvin De Groote, and Elihu Thomson. This list included design patents, which are not patents for inventions.
Condé Nast Portfolio (2007)
On October 15, 2007, Condé Nast Portfolio Magazine published a list[Info 11] of "the world's most prolific inventors alive":
Rank | Inventor | U.S. Patents |
---|---|---|
1 | Shunpei Yamazaki | 1,811 |
2 | Kia Silverbrook | 1,646 |
3 | Donald Weder | 1,350 |
4 | George Spector | 722 |
5 | Gurtej Sandhu | 674 |
6 | Leonard Forbes | 671 |
7 | Warren Farnworth | 635 |
8 | Salman Akram | 612 |
9 | Mark Gardner | 515 |
10 | Joseph Straeter | 485 |
This research was performed by The Patent Board,[Info 9] a Chicago patent research and advisory firm. As with the USA Today list, the Portfolio list only considered living inventors, and thus did not include such prolific inventors as Thomas Edison. This list also included design patents, which are not patents for inventions.
Business Insider (2011)
On May 6, 2011, Business Insider published an article titled: "The Ten Greatest Inventors In The Modern Era"[Info 12] containing the following list:
Rank | Inventor | U.S. Patents |
---|---|---|
1 | Kia Silverbrook | 3,847 |
2 | Shunpei Yamazaki | 2,061 |
3 | Thomas Edison | 1,084 |
4 | George Albert Lyon | 993 |
5 | Paul Lapstun | 969 |
6 | Donald Weder | 951 |
7 | John F. O'Connor | 949 |
8 | Leonard Forbes | 948 |
9 | Melvin De Groote | 925 |
10 | Francis H. Richards | 894 |
This list included living and dead inventors, and only included granted utility patents (patents for inventions).
Strutpatent.com (2012)
Strutpatent.com publishes a list of the "Top 10 Inventors"[Info 13] listing inventors ranked by US patents (of all types) issued since 1990:
Rank | Inventor | U.S. Patents |
---|---|---|
1 | Kia Silverbrook | 4,279 |
2 | Shunpei Yamazaki | 1,664 |
3 | Donald Weder | 1,310 |
4 | Paul Lapstun | 1,098 |
5 | Leonard Forbes | 959 |
6 | Gurtej Sandhu | 728 |
7 | Warren Farnworth | 685 |
8 | Salman Akram | 653 |
9 | Jay Walker | 644 |
10 | Chang-Hwan Hwang | 634 |
This list included only patents granted since 1990, and includes design patents as well as utility patents.
Annual lists (2007–2012)
Strutpatent.com publishes weekly, monthly, and annual lists of the top ten categories, inventors and assignees of US patents since 2007. These lists include all patent types, not just patents for inventions (utility patents).
The top ten inventors of US patents for 2007:[Info 14]
Rank | Inventor | U.S. Patents |
---|---|---|
1 | Kia Silverbrook | 502 |
2 | Audrey Goddard | 232 |
3 | William I. Wood | 232 |
4 | Austin L. Gurney | 225 |
5 | Chang-Hwan Hwang | 203 |
6 | Paul J. Godowski | 193 |
7 | Shunpei Yamazaki | 139 |
8 | Paul Lapstun | 129 |
9 | Leonard Forbes | 120 |
10 | Victoria Smith | 112 |
The top ten inventors of US patents for 2008:[Info 15]
Rank | Inventor | U.S. Patents |
---|---|---|
1 | Kia Silverbrook | 576 |
2 | Chang-Hwan Hwang | 198 |
3 | Audrey Goddard | 168 |
4 | Austin L. Gurney | 167 |
5 | William I. Wood | 166 |
6 | Paul J. Godowski | 153 |
7 | Shunpei Yamazaki | 143 |
8 | Paul Lapstun | 137 |
9 | Chang-Soo Lee | 129 |
10 | Victoria Smith | 122 |
The top ten inventors of US patents for 2009:[Info 16]
Rank | Inventor | U.S. Patents |
---|---|---|
1 | Kia Silverbrook | 444 |
2 | Shunpei Yamazaki | 137 |
3 | Paul Lapstun | 113 |
4 | Bartley K. Andre | 92 |
5 | Daniele De Iuliis | 92 |
6 | Jonathan Ive | 92 |
7 | Matthew Rohrbach | 92 |
8 | Richard P. Howarth | 91 |
9 | Duncan Robert Kerr | 91 |
10 | Leonard Forbes | 91 |
The top ten inventors of US patents for 2010:[Info 17]
Rank | Inventor | U.S. Patents |
---|---|---|
1 | Kia Silverbrook | 709 |
2 | Paul Lapstun | 191 |
3 | Shunpei Yamazaki | 162 |
4 | Simon Walmsley | 115 |
5 | Bartley K. Andre | 114 |
6 | Matthew Rohrbach | 109 |
7 | Richard P. Howarth | 108 |
8 | Jonathan Ive | 108 |
9 | Duncan Robert Kerr | 108 |
10 | Daniel J. Coster | 106 |
The top ten inventors of US patents for 2011:[Info 18]
Rank | Inventor | U.S. Patents |
---|---|---|
1 | Kia Silverbrook | 754 |
2 | Paul Lapstun | 268 |
3 | Shunpei Yamazaki | 163 |
4 | Hideo Ando | 162 |
5 | You Yoshioka | 153 |
6 | Scott H. Wittkopp | 126 |
7 | James M. Hart | 125 |
8 | Edward Jung | 112 |
9 | Simon Walmsley | 112 |
10 | Jay S. Walker | 99 |
The top ten inventors of US patents for 2012:[Info 19]
Rank | Inventor | U.S. Patents |
---|---|---|
1 | Kia Silverbrook | 220 |
2 | Edward Jung | 180 |
3 | Shunpei Yamazaki | 172 |
4 | Lowell Wood | 169 |
5 | Roderick Hyde | 140 |
6 | Bin Li | 124 |
7 | Royce Levien | 122 |
8 | Mark Malamud | 119 |
9 | Shunpei Yamazaki | 118 |
10 | John Rinaldo | 117 |
This table omitted Rick Allen Hamilton II. The USPTO database shows Hamilton was an inventor or co-inventor of 128 US patents granted in 2012,[Info 20] which would place Hamilton at 6th rank for 2012.
Differences between lists
Differences in patent numbers between the various lists are due to several reasons:
- The lists were created on different dates. As many of the inventors in the lists are still active, the number of patents they hold are increasing.
- While the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the primary source for U.S. patent information, only patents issued since 1976 can be electronically searched by the inventor's name at the USPTO website. For some of the listed inventors, such as Thomas Edison, all of their patents predate 1976, so other sources must be used.
- Often entities list the worldwide total number of patents that they hold. This is not the same as the number of inventions, as a patent in one country may be for the same invention as a patent in another country. The set of patents covering a single invention in different countries is a Patent family.
- The Time, USA Today and Portfolio lists show the total number of U.S. patents, including patents for designs (Design patents) as well as patents for inventions (Utility patents).
- The annual lists from strutpatent.com list only those patents issued in the particular year to the inventor, not all of the inventor's patents.
See also
References
- "Thomas Alva Edison Biography at Rutgers University". Archived from the original on 2018-06-29. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
- List of Edison patents
- The True Inventor Archived 2018-06-23 at the Wayback Machine Basson-Booyens website
- Le Bas, Christian; Bouklia-Hassane, Riad; Cabagnols, Alexandre (16 June 2010). "Prolific Inventors: Who are They and Where do They Locate? International Centre for Economic Research Working Paper No. 14/2010". Archived from the original on 2021-04-02. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
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References of Inventors' Patents
- Shunpei Yamazaki
- Kia Silverbrook
- Kangguo Cheng
- Lowell L. Wood, Jr.
- Roderick A. Hyde
- Jun Koyama
- Gurtej Sandhu
- Paul Lapstun
- Clarence T. Tegreene
- Shou-Shan Fan
- Alexander Reznicek
- Leonard Forbes
- Edward K. Y. Jung
- Thomas Edison
- Rick Allen Hamilton II
- Donald E. Weder
- George Albert Lyon
- Jordin T. Kare
- Michael J. Sullivan
- Jay S. Walker
- John F. O'Connor
- Melvin De Groote
- Ahmadreza Rofougaran
- Nathan Myhrvold
- Francis H. Richards
- Sarbajit K. Rakshit
- Jason K. Resch
- Mark Malamud
- Robert W. Lord
- Royce A. Levien
- William H. Eby
- Ruilong Xie
- Muriel Y. Ishikawa
- Michael K. Gschwind
- Esmael H. Dinan
- Clifford A. Pickover
- Chih-Chao Yang
- Salman Akram
- Warren Farnworth
- Devendra K. Sadana
- SungDuck Chun
- Jeyhan Karaoguz
- Carleton Ellis
- Ali Khakifirooz
- Bruce B. Doris
- John M. Santosuosso
- Hideo Ando
- George Spector
- Austin L. Gurney
- Tetsujiro Kondo
- Elihu Thomson
- Gregory J. Boss
- Eric C. Leuthardt
- Irwin Gerszberg
- William I. Wood
- Lisa Seacat DeLuca
- Simon R. Walmsley
- Paul S. Henry
- Edward J. Nowak
- Audrey D. Goddard
- Jean-Philippe Vasseur
- Kie Y. Ahn
- Jerome H. Lemelson
- Tadahiro Ohmi
- Béla Barényi
- Anthony K. Stamper
- Stuart C. Salter
- Ronald S. Cok
- Paul J. Godowski
- Frederick A. Ware
- Jeffrey P. Gambino
- Lawrence A. Clevenger
- Robert S. Langer
- Kai-Li Jiang
- Artur Fischer
- Victoria Y. H. Wood
- Farhad Barzegar
- Louis L. Hsu
- Belgacem Haba
- Pouya Hashemi
- Muhammad A. Kazmi
- Edwin H. Land
- Thomas M. Willis III
- Tenko Yamashita
- Mark I. Gardner
- Henri Dreyfus
- Valentina Salapura
- Stephen E. Terry
- Clyde C. Farmer
- Heinz Focke
- Ravi K. Arimilli
- Louis H. Morin
- Tobin A. King
- John L. Melanson
- Moon-il Lee
- Brian M. O'Connell
- James M. Hart
- Robert S. Chau
- Michael (S.) Tsirkin
- Jack A. Mandelman
- Jack T. Kavalieros
- Brent A. Anderson
- Assaf Natanzon
- Robert Bennett
- Donald J. Barnickel
- Zhijun Cai
- Eric J. Brandwine
- Vincent J. Zimmer
- Eberhard Ammermann
- Thomas E. Murray
- James E. Bostick
- Hongyong Zhang
- Scott H. Wittkopp
- Gary W. Grube
- Xuemin (Sherman) Chen
- Bengt Lindoff
- John M. Ganci
- Paul Marinier
- Qinghua Li
- Greg R. Dhuse
- John Hays Hammond, Jr.
- Hossein Eslambolchi
- Cary L. Bates
- Timothy J. Slegel
- Dean L. Kamen
- Wilhelm Brandes
- Bor Z. Jang
- Jeffrey E. Stahmann
- Andrew J. Ouderkirk
- Stanford R. Ovshinsky
- Paul K. Dellock
- Philip D. Nguyen
- Paul W. Dent
- Akira Nakazawa
- Wesley B. Legette
- Josef Theurer
- David V. Horak
- Robert Baldemair
- Wael W. Diab
- Paul R. Bastide
- Andrew D. Baptist
- Stefan Parkvall
- William Daniel Hillis
- Hans-Joachim Santel
- Patrick J. O'Sullivan
- Elizabeth A. Sweeney
- Hanson S. Gifford III
- Carl J. Radens
- Gisela Lorenz
- Norman M. Berry
- Christopher B. Locke
- George P. Liang
- Garry R. Jackson
- Steven L. Teig
- Aruna Zhamu
- George Westinghouse
- Keith R. Walker
- Venson M. Shaw
- Ajith K. Kumar
- Mark W. Kroll
- Zvi Or-Bach
- Siddharth S. Oroskar
- Kulvir S. Bhogal
- Daniel J. Winarski
- Robert R. Schmidt
- Chung-Lung (Kevin) Shum
- Eric J. Horvitz
- Carlos Cordeiro
- Brian S. Doyle
- Martin G. Keen
- Christian P. Jacobi
- Jasinder P. Singh
- Choonghyun Lee
- Cyprian E. Uzoh
- Sandeep R. Patil
- Jennifer L. Hillman
- Hyukjin Chae
- Michael L. Fripp
- Ned M. Smith
- Jong-Kae J. Fwu
- Frank J. Viola
- Liang Liu
- Corville O. Allen
- Alexei V. Davydov
- Victor S. Moore
- Ravi Pillarisetty
- Dorin Comaniciu
- Victoria Smith
- Altug Koker
- Craig M. Trim
- Ramachandra Divakaruni
- Kiseon Ryu
- Kyungmin Park
- Daniel C. Edelstein
- Hui Zang
- Troy A. Manning
- Brent Keeth
- Robert G. LeTourneau
- Sreekar Marupaduga
- Madhusudan K. Iyengar
- Sheldon K. Meredith
- Abhishek R. Appu
- Nathan J. Peterson
- Adam Heller
- Christopher J. Dawson
- Takeshi Chujoh
- Elmoustapha Ould-Ahmed-Vall
- William R. Tonti
- Joydeep Ray
- Zine-Eddine Boutaghou
- Xin Miao
- Manu J. Kurian
- Jung-Fu T. Cheng
- Jeffrey W. Sleight
- Su Liu
- Michael A. Rothman
- Jeongki Kim
- Rajiv V. Joshi
- Craig E. Hampel
- Marko Radosavljevic
- Austin G. Walters
- Diana Pani
- Vinodh Gopal
- Bran Ferren
- Aaron K. Baughman
- Justin Lewis
- Ilya Volvovski
- David C. Gibbon
- Robert P. Loce
- Burkay Donderici
- Gary D. Cudak
- Jonathan D. Dunne
- Yuan Y. Zhu
- Al Chakra
- Imad Libbus
- Hartley Owen
- Eran Steinberg
- Olga Bandman
- Iana Siomina
- Matthew B. Trevathan
- Gilbert M. Wolrich
- John A. Colgrove
- Stephen G. Perlman
- Hua Zhou
- Santokh S. Badesha
- Robert J. Stacey
- Yoshihiro Kikuchi
- Marco Pistoia
- Robert C. Valentine
- Gilbert W. Dewey
- Daniel Larsson
- Harry (Tom) Graef
- Ning Li
- Johnny M. Shieh
- Benzion Landa
- James R. Kraemer
- Stephen M. Trimberger
- Dale W. Malik
- Ilyas Mohammed
- Louis B. Rosenberg
- Brant L. Candelore
- Rhonda L. Childress
- Johan Rune
- Nobuyuki Taniguchi
- Gerald F. McBrearty
- Chen Zhang
- Seung H. Kang
- Philip S. Yu
- Matthew V. Metz
- S. Christopher Gladwin
- Thomas J. Kennedy III
- Vijay Narayanan
- Omer R. Koseoglu
- David M. Durham
- Mark A. Horowitz
- Vivek K. De
- Martin Langhammer
- Timothy M. Robinson
- Anand S. Murthy
- Neelakantan Sundaresan
- Michael A. Guillorn
- Matthew N. Sharifi
- James H. Pratt
- Steven J. Simske
- Mukta Ghate Farooq
- Anil Agiwal
- James W. Seaman
- Dureseti Chidambarrao
- Vijay Ekambaram
- Gunnar Mildh
- Jeremy R. Fox
- Shogo Mochizuki
- Rajarshi Gupta
- Jian Gao
- Kunal R. Parekh
- John C. Mese
- Fredrik Gunnarsson
- Solomon B. Trainin
- Philippe Armangau
- Robert T. Love
- Maulik K. Shah
- Gilbert A. Neiger
- Carlos M. Pignataro
- Eric M. Zavesky
- Paul Ian Mackey
- Yingda Dong
- Alexander A. Maltsev
- Sebastian T. Ventrone
- Dung Q. Nguyen
- Jed H. Rankin
- Jonathan D. Bradbury
- Lyle W. Paczkowski
- Jonathan J. Hull
- Shuji Nakamura
- Arup Bhattacharyya
- Lin Sun
- Bruce B. Pedersen
- Akira Goda
- Gregory J. McAvoy
- Sergey Y. Shumarayev
- Michael K. Bugenhagen
- Michael Bender
- Paul W. Coteus
- Emily H. Qi
- Robert E. Loredo
- Samuel N. Zellner
- Robert E. Fischell
- Hiroshi (You) Yoshioka
- Patrick B. Usoro
- Scott B. Herner
- Paul K. Pickard
- Manish Motwani
- Christopher J. Hardee
- Shipeng Li
- Sadeg M. Faris
- Zhi Cui
- Sorin Faibish
- Barrett M. Kreiner