Year 2014 was the first time Apple registered more than 2000 patents in a year. Number of registered patents, which was only 215 in 2005, increased by 10 times in a span of 10 years. This increasing trend is the fastest out of any global enterprises.
According to IPnomix report ‘What is Apple’s weapon to be competitive in the future?’, which was co-published by ETRC and Patentpia (President Kang Min Soo), Apple secured 8854 registered patents in the past 10 years (2005~2014). It secured 5420 patents out of 8854 patents within last 3 years, which indicates that Apple is focusing intensively on securing patents.
The reason why Apple is active in securing patents through IP activity is to strengthen IP portfolio. Although it is known as a famous patent management company, its competitiveness in patents is not that great. Compared to its competitors, it is definitely inferior in securing patents.
Just looking at Apple’s number of registered patents, it actually falls outside of top 40 businesses in the U.S. Patents that Apple secured in last 10 years is only about 22% of what Samsung secured, and Samsung secured about 40,000 patents within last 10 years.
Apple is rapidly increasing the number of their registered patents to make up for its quantitative inferiority. Apple’s number of registered patents passed 500 for the first time in 2009, and it passed 1000 in 2012. Its margin of increase of registered patents is speeding up as it passed 2000 in last year.As they are increasing the number of their registered patents, one can recognize their choice and focus on specific technologies.
Out of 8854 patents that Apple registered in last 10 years, 2036 of them were about iOS. They also registered 1744 patents in communication field, which overwhelmed other technologies. One can see that Apple focused its technical development centered around iOS and communication. Besides these, Apple also registered about 900 patents in design, application, general hardware, and etc.
Apple also registered most parents in iOS and communication last year. It registered 470 and 420 patents in iOS and communication respectively.
Looking at its interests in more detail, there were more than 20 registered patents in about 30 technical groups. Number of registered patents regarding metal increased about 2 times and there were significant technical developments in camera, memory, graphic user interface, icon, and etc. Although the total number of patents in these fields is small, it is significant since Apple started strengthening the increase of number of registered patents in these fields.※ 상세한 내용은 IP노믹스 홈페이지(http://www.ipnomics.co.kr)에서 확인할 수 있습니다.
※ Detailed information can be found on IPnomix homepage (http://www.ipnomics.co.kr)
Staff Reporter Lee, Kangwook| wook@etnews.com