What individual owns the most US patents? What company claims the most US patents?
I don’t know about individuals, but for a company, I’d say IBM. I know that as of a couple of years ago they had been #1 in patents granted for 7 or 8 years in a row. And they’ve always been big on research, and protecting that research.
Ugly
According to the Guinness Book of World Records (1994 edition), Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) has had the most patents, with 1,093 either on his own or jointly.