US patents from MNCs have shot up while those filed by India Inc and institutions are declining

22 September 2011

BANGALORE: With a global R&D budget of $6 billion, it is no surprise that IBM is the world’s largest patent generator. In the year 2009, the last year for which precise public data are available, IBM had broken its own record with 4,843 US patents, 794 more than its nearest rival Samsung Electronics. However, several people may be surprised to know that IBM has become a large patent generator in India as well. In the last five years, IBM had got 250 US patents out of work done by engineers in India.

Compare this with the 34 US patents obtained in five years by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, the biggest patentee among Indian companies. IBM does not stand in isolation. Just the top five multinational R&D centres in India have generated 1,021 US patents in the last five years, according to research by Sunil Mani, professor at the Centre for Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram. In contrast, the 38 laboratories of CSIR have notched up only 432….

Read more: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-09-22/news/30189431_1_patent-office-csir-ibm