Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics were listed side by side on the top 10 companies that registered the most patents in the U.S. last year.
Samsung Electronics retained its No. 2 position for the 12th consecutive year, while LG Electronics also ranked in the top 10 for the third consecutive year.
According to the "2018 top 300 companies and institutions" released by the Intellectual Property Owners Association(IPO) of the United States, Samsung Electronics registered 5,836 patents last year, ranking second after IBM of the U.S. IBM retained its overwhelming No. 1 position with 9,088 patent registrations.
Japan's Canon followed with 3,206 cases, General Electric with 2,769 cases, Intel with 2,728, Alphabet with 2,597 cases, LG Electronics with 2,473 cases, TSMC with 2,448 cases, Microsoft with 2,385 cases and Qualcomm with 2,300 cases. Apple was 11th with 2,147.
LG Electronics, which entered the top 10 in 2016, saw its patent registration count fall by 9 percent from the previous year, but its ranking rose by one notch.
When looking at "top 10" by country, the U.S. topped the list with six, followed by South Korea with two and Japan and Taiwan with one each.
In addition, Samsung Display ranked 17th, one step ahead of Sony, while Hyundai Motor (22nd), SK Hynix (45th), LG Display (53rd), LG Chem (61st), and LG Innotek (87th).
