# USPO question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uspo-question/112920>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 8, 2002, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uspo-question/112920 "2002-06-08T01:14:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![insider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@insider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/insider)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uspo-question/112920/1 "2002-06-08T01:14:06Z")

</div>

What individual owns the most US patents? What company claims the most US patents?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uspo-question/112920/2 "2002-06-08T02:10:24Z")

</div>

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

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uspo-question/112920/3 "2002-06-08T15:26:04Z")

</div>

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.