IBM files the most patents for the 19th year in a row

IBM is the world's leading patent holder, and 2011 was a record year for the company, with over 6,000 patents awarded.

Thanks to the activity of its engineers, IBM surpassed its colleagues from Hewlett-Packard by more than four times and outpaced the combined performance of Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Amazon, Google, EMC, Microsoft and Oracle/Sun.

The company's American employees accounted for more than 26% of the company's total patents in 2011, increasing that figure by 48% over the past four years.

The company's patents describe systems and solutions for retail, banking, healthcare, transportation, computing, and other industries that can support the next generation of more intelligent, cognitive, and information-driven systems, and more.

Samsung took second place in the ranking among technology companies with 4.8 thousand registered patents, Canon took third place (2.8 thousand), followed by Panasonic, Toshiba, Microsoft, Sony, Seiko Epson, Hon Hai, and Hitachi.