HP huge among patents for the tiny

HP's patent portfolio for micro- and nanoelectronics has been named the strongest in the U.S. , according to an independent survey.

1790 Analytics LLC of Mount Laurel, N.J., ranked HP's 2004 patent portfolio the best among 15 top companies in a survey conducted for Small Times, a nanotechnology industry publication. The results were published in the July-August issue.

HP was granted 25 micro- or nano- specific patents in the U.S. in 2004, the same as IBM. But HP's “overall pipeline power” measurement, designed by 1790 Analytics was much higher – 160 to 27. Other companies in the top five were Nanosphere Inc., Agere Systems, Agilent Technologies Inc. and Intel Corp. IBM was No. 15.

The “pipeline power” number was aggregated from scores for pipeline growth, impact, generality and originality. Pipeline growth measured whether patent activity in the area was increasing or decreasing, according to the report. Pipeline impact measured how frequently patents are cited by later patents, an indication of their value. Pipeline generality referred to later patent citations from varied technical fields, which suggests the initial patents have broad applicability. Pipeline originality counts patents which combine ideas from different technologies, rather than just being an incremental improvement over a previous invention.

“I'm delighted that HP has been recognized for the overall strength of its patent portfolio in the micro- and nanotech field,” said Dick Lampman, HP senior vice president, research, and director, HP Labs. “We are building an intellectual asset that we believe will provide outstanding value for HP in the future.”