Microsoft Leads Nation in Value of Patent Portfolio

Microsoft has fewer patents than IBM but the software giant’s patents are the most valuable in the nation. That’s the conclusion of a study conducted for Bloomberg Business Week by Ocean Tomo, a Chicago intellectual property consulting firm. The firm measured the value of the patents based on such criteria as how often they were cited and the earnings they generated. IBM was granted 4,914 patents last year, substantially more than Microsoft’s 2,906 patents. But the study concluded that Microsoft’s patent portfolia was worth more than three times Microsoft’s patent portfolio. Microsoft’s patents in such areas as software and video games, the study concluded, were more valuable than IBM’s patents, many of which were in services. Companies typically use their patent portfolios as leverage to trade for access to patents from other companies.