PRELIMINARY LIST OF TOP PATENTING ORGANIZATIONS *
                      Calendar Year 1997

This report presents a preliminary list of organizations
receiving the most patents for invention (i.e., utility patents)
during the 1997 CALENDAR year.

For the fifth straight year, International Business Machines
Corporation (IBM) received more utility patents than any other
non-Federal patenting organization.  For 1997, IBM received
1,724 utility patents, down slightly from its total for 1996.
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha again ranks second with 1,381 utility
patents, also down slightly from its 1996 total.

NEC Corporation (1,095 patents) has moved to third place on the
list of top patenting organizations replacing Motorola, Inc.
which drops to fourth position (1,058 patents). The U.S.
Government moves to fifth place on the list with a total of 935
patents for the year.

The top eleven patenting organizations for 1997 are the same as
those identified for 1996 with the exception of Eastman Kodak
Company which rejoins the list in tenth position with 795
patents, displacing Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.,
which has dropped off the list. The top eleven patenting
organizations consist of three U.S. corporations, seven Japanese
corporations, and the U.S. Government.

A complete listing of the top eleven patenting organizations
receiving utility patents in 1997 is shown below.

1997    1997                                         ( Rank  )  (# Patents)
Rank  # Patents  Organization                        (in 1996)  ( in 1996 )
----  ---------  --------------------------          ---------  ----------
  1     1,724    International Business Machines Corp  (1)       (1,867)
  2     1,381    Canon Kabushiki Kaisha                (2)       (1,541)
  3     1,095    NEC Corporation                       (4)       (1,043)
  4     1,058    Motorola Inc.                         (3)       (1,064)
  5       935    U.S. GOVERNMENT                       (7)         (923)
  6       903    Fujitsu Limited                       (9)         (869)
          903    Hitachi, Ltd.                         (5)         (963)
  8       892    Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha     (6)         (934)
  9       862    Toshiba Corporation                   (8)         (914)
 10       859    Sony Corporation                     (10)         (855)
 11       795    Eastman Kodak Company                (13)         (768)


* The  listed patent counts are preliminary counts which are subject to
correction. The final listing of 1997 patent counts for the top patenting
organizations should be available by early April.


Please Note:
Patent information presented reflects patent ownership at patent grant and
does not include changes in ownership which occur after the patent grant. 
Where more than one assignee (owner) exists, patents are attributed to the
first-named assignee.

No attempt has been made to combine data based on subsidiary
relationships.  However, where possible, spelling variations and
variations based on name changes have been merged into a single name
(e.g., ESSO to EXXON).  While every effort is made to accurately identify
all organizational entities and report data by a single organization name,
achievement of a totally clean record is not expected, particularly in
view of the variations which occur in many corporate identifications.

------------------
Questions regarding this report should be directed to:
(address as of 2/97)
             U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
             Office of Electronic Information Products
             Technology Assessment and Forecast Program
             PK3-Suite 441
             Washington, DC  20231

             tel (703) 306-2600
             FAX (703) 306-2737

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SOURCE:   U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
          Technology Assessment and Forecast data base  (1-8-98)