Leaderboards

Who's winning the patent race?

The most-cited patents in history. The most-litigated. The companies and inventors stacking patents the fastest. Curated from PatentBrief's index of U.S. utility patents.

1. 01
   Making Hybrid Antibodies from Different Animals

   Genentech IncUS 4816567
   8,214citations
2. 02
   How to Make Many Copies of a Specific DNA Segment

   Cetus CorpUS 4683202
   7,558citations
3. 03
   How to Make Billions of Copies of a DNA Segment

   Cetus CorpUS 4683195
   6,231citations
4. 04
   How Scientists Create Human-Friendly Antibodies for Medicine

   Protein Design Labs IncUS 5585089
   4,274citations
5. 05
   How a Multi-Touch Screen Detects Multiple Fingers and Palms

   University of DelawareUS 6323846
   2,641citations
6. 06
   How Doctors Implant a Permanent Stent Using a Balloon

   Expandable Grafts PartnershipUS 4733665
   2,425citations
7. 07
   Boosting Anti-Infective Activity with Muramyldipeptides and Liposomes

   Syntex USA LLCUS 4522811
   2,340citations
8. 08
   How to Make Many Copies of a DNA Piece with Heat

   Cetus CorpUS 4965188
   2,132citations
9. 09
   How Multi-Touch Screens Track Multiple Fingers at Once

   Apple IncUS 7663607
   1,995citations
10. 10
    How to Encapsulate Active Materials in Lipid Bubbles Efficiently

    IndividualUS 4235871
    1,862citations
11. 11
    How Canon's Bubble Jet Printers Make Ink Droplets

    Canon IncUS 4723129
    1,806citations
12. 12
    How Amazon's One-Click Ordering Works for Online Purchases

    Amazon com IncUS 5960411
    1,636citations
13. 13
    Logitech's Method for Using Two Fingers on a Touchpad

    Logitech IncUS 5825352
    1,577citations
14. 14
    How Two Special Antibodies Find Substances in Body Fluids

    Hybritech IncUS 4376110
    1,572citations
15. 15
    Making Strong, Porous PTFE: The Gore-Tex Process

    WL Gore and Associates IncUS 3953566
    1,364citations

02 — Top Patent Holders

Companies with the most patents in our index

The companies stacking patent grants. Click any company to see their full portfolio on PatentBrief.

04 — Most Prolific Inventors

The names behind the most patents in our index

The most prolific inventors PatentBrief tracks. Click a name to see their career patent portfolio.

Rankings are derived from PatentBrief's index of U.S. utility patents. Counts reflect only patents currently in the index — large companies may have more total patents than shown here. Data refreshed daily.