Patent Intelligence · Portfolio Quality
Quality, not just quantity
Filing 10,000 patents a year doesn't make you innovative. A portfolio of 100 highly-cited, broadly-relied-upon patents does more than 10,000 un-cited ones. This index ranks companies by the quality of their IP — not the volume.
Overall avg citations
83.1
High-impact rate (≥10 cit)
38.7%
#1 quality portfolio
Apple Inc
Top 25 by Portfolio Quality Score
Quality score = avg citations × high-impact rate × log(1+portfolio size). Rewards genuine impact, not raw volume.
1
avg 164.8 cit
64% high-impact
50 patents
2
avg 67.0 cit
67% high-impact
123 patents
Top 10 by Volume — Quality Comparison
The highest-filing companies, with their quality metrics. Volume does not equal quality.
| Company | Patents | Avg cit. | High-impact | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual | 123 | 67.0 | 67% | Strong |
| Apple Inc | 50 | 164.8 | 64% | Elite |
Average Patent Quality by Technology Domain
Domains with high avg citations produce patents others build upon. Low avg citations may indicate defensive or incremental filing.
Gene Editing
avg 485.9
med 0.0
29% high-impact
Pharmaceuticals
avg 243.1
med 3.0
41% high-impact
Biotechnology
avg 183.3
med 2.0
37% high-impact
E-Commerce
avg 88.9
med 8.0
47% high-impact
Semiconductors
avg 83.2
med 5.0
44% high-impact
Consumer Electronics
avg 66.7
med 5.0
42% high-impact
Software
avg 63.3
med 3.0
35% high-impact
Telecommunications
avg 56.0
med 2.0
32% high-impact
Mechanical Engineering
avg 40.3
med 5.0
40% high-impact
Automotive
avg 29.2
med 4.0
32% high-impact
AI & Machine Learning
avg 21.7
med 1.0
28% high-impact
Clean Energy
avg 18.1
med 5.0
34% high-impact
Why forward citations measure quality
When later inventors cite your patent, it means your invention was foundational to their work. High forward citation count = other researchers found your patent relevant enough to build upon. This is the closest proxy we have for patent importance.
The quality score formula
Quality score = avg citations × (% patents with 10+ citations) × log(1+portfolio size). This rewards genuine impact: high avg citations and a large fraction of high-impact patents. It penalizes filing armies of un-cited patents.
Domain comparison caveat
Older technology domains (mechanical, automotive) have had more time for patents to accumulate citations. Newer domains (AI, gene editing) may appear lower-quality simply because their patents haven't had time to be cited. Interpret with that in mind.