According to a recent IFI CLAIMS® Patent Services press release (link below), International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) retained the top spot for the number of U.S. patents issued in 2006. The analysis performed by IFI shows that IBM obtained 3,651 U.S. patents in 2006, with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. second with 2,453, Canon K K third with 2,378, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. fourth with 2,273, and Hewlett-Packard Development Co. LP fifth with 2,113. Rounding out the top ten are Intel Corp., Sony Corp., Hitachi Ltd., Toshiba Corp., and Micron Technology Inc. IBM has obtained more patents per year than any other company since 1993. As noted in the IT Jungle article (link below), nine of the top 20 companies are Japanese and seven are from the U.S., with a Korean company (Samsung) holding the second place spot on the list. The IT Jungle article further notes that “[o]f equally important note, IBM is the only company in history to ever have more than 2,000 patents issued to it by Uncle Sam in a year--until 2006. The remaining top four patent holders--Samsung, Canon, Matsushita, and HP--all broke 2,000 patents for the first time in their histories.”

IFI CLAIMS® Press Release (Including Top 35 List): LINK
IT Jungle Article: LINK