From among the top 35 patent winners, IBM, with 3,621, patents surpassed its own record and earned more US patents than any other company, leading over the next closest patent holder by 1,170.

In 2006, 173,772 corporate patents were issued - a US PTO record - and a 20.8 per cent rise over 2005.

IBM has now announced that it would develop and host the "Inventors' Forum," an online initiative to share and debate ideas on how smaller enterprises view patent systems and can contribute to reform efforts such as improved patent quality.

"Smaller companies long have been the 'silent majority' in the invention community," says Andy Gibbs, CEO, PatentCafe, a publisher of IP management software solutions. "The sheer number of patents they generate obscures the fact that they do not have a means to actually collaborate and participate with one voice in the invention system. The Inventors' Forum will empower these companies to voice their ideas for improving the patent system and brainstorm with peers around the world."

"Meaningful patent reform must address the needs of all constituents," said Herbert Wamsley, executive director of the Washington, DC-based Intellectual Property Owners Association.

Rank	Company	No.Patents
1	International Business Machines Corp	* 3651
2	Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Kr	2453
3	Canon K K Jp	2378
4	Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd Jp	2273
5	Hewlett-Packard Development Co L P	** 2113
6	Intel Corp	1962
7	Sony Corp Jp	1810
8	Hitachiltdjp	1749
9	Toshiba Corp Jp	1717
10	Micron Technology Inc	1612
11	Fujitsu Ltd Jp	1513
12	Microsoft Corp	1463
13	Seiko Epson Corp Jp	1205
14	General Electric Co	1051
15	Fujiphotofilm Co Lt D Jp	918
16	Infineon Technologies Ag De	904
17	Koninklijke Philipse Lectronicsn V Nl	901
18	Texas Instruments Inc	884
19	Siemens Ag De	857
20	Honda Motor Co Ltd Jp	836
21	Sun Microsystems Inc	776
22	Denso Corp Jp	770
23	Nec Corp Jp	744
24	Lg Electronics Inc Kr	695
24	Ricoh Co Ltd Jp	695
26	Sharp K K Jp	692
27	Eastman Kodak Co	688
28	Broadcom Corp	660
29	Cisco Technology Inc	649
30	Bosch, Robert Gmbh De	648
31	Mitsubishi Denki K K Jp	623
32	Nokia Ab Oy Fi	597
33	Renesas Technology Corp Jp	593
34	Motorola Inc	578
35	Honeywell International Inc	559

*Includes 2 patents issued as unassigned for which Certificates of Correction have been published indicating IBM as the assignee.
**Includes 5 patents assigned to Hewlett-Packard Co.