In a press release issued yesterday, the USPTO has affirmatively announced that it will no longer be releasing its annual top 10 list of organizations obtaining the most U.S. patents during the preceding calendar year. Although this data will be available in the USPTO’s annual “Patenting by Organizations” report, it is ceasing the list in order to “emphasiz[e] quality over quantity by discouraging any perception that we believe more is better.” In support of this statement, the USPTO stated that “[l]ast year patent quality was the best in over 20 years, and the agency also had the lowest rate of patents approved in more than 30 years.” As referenced in an earlier DDIP post (link below), IFI CLAIMS® has released its own list of the companies obtaining the most patents, and in the IT Jungle article referenced therein, it was noted that the USPTO “was concerned that the industry was focusing too much on the quantity of patents awarded and wanted to shift the dialog out there in the tech world over to the quality of the patents awarded each year” and would no longer be publishing its list. The USPTO press release concludes with several bullet points identifying the “numerous programs to enhance the quality of patent examination,” including specific eight-month training programs and the electronic processing of patent applications.

USPTO Press Release: LINK
DDIP Top Patent Companies Article: LINK