Samsung Registered 5,000 Patents in US Last Year Alone, Second to IBM

Following the lawsuits from Apple, Samsung Electronics is now faced with a patent battle with Huawei. Actually, in preparation for such a possible patent dispute, the Korean IT giant has put its energy into acquiring US patents in recent years. Samsung said in May 26 that it has owned the accumulated patents of 11,145 as of the end of last year, adding that it has filed 23, 385 patents last year alone. Most of them have been filed particularly in the US among others. The company filed 38,809 patents in the US, 30,741 in South Korea, 15,654 in Europe, 10,030 in China, 6,746 in Japan, and 8,165 in other countries. Last year, Samsung invested a total of US$ 13 billion into R&D while making 6, 615 patent applications at home and 16,770 in overseas countries. In Particular, the number it has acquired in the US amounts to 5,720, taking the second place for 10 straight years from 2006 following IBM. Samsung said, “We own the largest number of patents in the US in terms of accumulatin in order to respond effectively to patent disputes to be occurred in the US,” adding, “Most of them are related to smart phones, smart TVs, memories and LSI system, and currently used or will be utilized for strategic projects in the future.” An industry insider said, “One end product like smartphone needs tens of thousands of patents. If only one of them is sued for patent infringement, it could lead to a great difficulty in sales of the product. Consequently, it is getting more crucial to avoid patent disputes or respond properly to them.” In addition, Samsung Electronics got 1,342 rights for design in the US last year in order to protect its own designs applied to its goods such as smartphones, and LED TVs. http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/