The following is a list of the top ten recipients of patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in the year indicated:

2004

1. 3248 patents to IBM, headquartered in Armonk, New York
2. 1934 patents to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., headquartered in Kadoma, Japan
3. 1805 patents to Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, headquartered in Tokyo
4. 1775 patents to Hewlett-Packard, headquartered in Palo Alto, California
5. 1760 patents to Micron Technology, headquartered in Boise, Idaho
6. 1604 patents to Samsung Electronics Co., headquartered in Daegu, Korea
7. 1601 patents to Intel Corporation, headquartered in Santa Clara, California
8. 1514 patents to Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo
9. 1310 patents to Toshiba Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo
10. 1305 patents to Sony Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo

2003

1. 3415 patents to IBM, headquartered in Armonk, New York
2. 1992 patents to Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, headquartered in Tokyo
3. 1893 patents to Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo
4. 1786 patents to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., headquartered in Kadoma, Japan
5. 1759 patents to Hewlett-Packard, headquartered in Palo Alto, California
6. 1707 patents to Micron Technology, headquartered in Boise, Idaho
7. 1592 patents to Intel Corporation, headquartered in Santa Clara, California
8. 1353 patents to Royal Philips Electronics, headquartered in Amsterdam
9. 1313 patents to Samsung Electronics Co., headquartered in Daegu, Korea
10. 1311 patents to Sony Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo

2002

1. IBM
2. Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
3. Micron Technology
4. NEC Corporation
5. Hitachi, Ltd.
6. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
7. Sony Corportion
8. General Electric Company
9. Hewlett-Packard
10. Mitsubishi Denki K.K.

2001

1. IBM
2. NEC Corporation
3. Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
4. Micron Technology
5. Samsung Electronics
6. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
7. Sony Corportion
8. Hitachi, Ltd.
9. Mitsubishi Denki K.K
10. Fujitsu, headquartered in Tokyo

2000

1. IBM
2. NEC Corporation
3. Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
4. Samsung Electronics
5. Lucent Technologies
6. Sony Corportion
7. Micron Technology
8. Toshiba
9. Motorola
10. Fujitsu

1999

1. IBM
2. NEC Corporation
3. Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
4. Samsung Electronics
5. Sony Corportion
6. Toshiba
7. Fujitsu
8. Motorola
9. Lucent Technologies
10. Mitsubishi Denki K.K.

1998

1. IBM
2. Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
3. NEC Corporation
4. Motorola
5. Sony Corportion
6. Samsung Electronics
7. Fujitsu
8. Toshiba
9. Eastman Kodak Co.
10. Hitachi, Ltd.

1997

1. IBM
2. Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
3. NEC Corporation
4. Motorola
5. Fujitsu
6. Hitachi, Ltd.
7. Mitsubishi Denki K.K
8. Toshiba
9. Sony Corportion
10. Eastman Kodak Co.