List of prolific inventors

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The 100 known most prolific inventors based on worldwide utility patents are shown in the following table. While in many cases this is the number of utility patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, it may include utility patents granted by other countries, as noted by the source references for an inventor.

Prolific Inventors

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Inventor Pats Fams Fam % Pat Yrs Yrs Pat /Yr Inv /Pat Pat Residence Majority Assignment
Shunpei Yamazaki [1] 6551 2879 43.9% 1972—2025 53.1 123 3.6  Japan Semiconductor Energy Laboratory
Kia Silverbrook [2] 4747 1311 27.6% 1994—2014 20 237 1.6  Australia Silverbrook Research
Tao Luo [3] 3934 3281 83.4% 2006—2025 19 207 5.6  USA Qualcomm
Kangguo Cheng [4] 2786 1535 55.1% 2004—2025 20.5 136 3.9  USA IBM
Frederick E. Shelton IV [5] 2539 1174 46.2% 2005—2025 19.9 128 4.5  USA Ethicon
Junyi Li [6] 2477 2092 84.5% 2002—2025 22.5 110 5.2  USA Qualcomm
Peter Gaal [7] 2374 1827 77.0% 2002—2025 22.7 105 5.9  USA Qualcomm
Wanshi Chen [8] 2206 1703 77.2% 2009—2025 16 138 5.7  USA Qualcomm
Lowell L. Wood, Jr. [9] 1998 1326 66.4% 1971—2025 53.4 37 8.8  USA Intellectual Ventures
Xiaoxia Zhang [10] 1903 1618 85.0% 2009—2025 16.3 117 5.5  USA Qualcomm
Roderick A. Hyde [11] 1892 1252 66.2% 2001—2023 22.4 84 8.7  USA Intellectual Ventures
Chen-Hua Yu [12] 1837 966 52.6% 1996—2025 28.9 64 4.9  Taiwan TSMC
Esmael H. Dinan [13] 1766 715 40.5% 2006—2025 18.9 93 3.6  USA Ofinno
Hanbyul Seo [14] 1754 1302 74.2% 2012—2025 13 135 3.8  South Korea LG
Jing Sun [15] 1570 1312 83.6% 2012—2025 12.4 127 5.9  USA Qualcomm
Jun Koyama [16] 1504 618 41.1% 1991—2022 30.8 49 3.1  Japan Semiconductor Energy Laboratory
Gurtej Singh Sandhu [17] 1430 584 40.8% 1991—2024 32.5 44 2.5  USA Micron
Sarbajit K. Rakshit [18] 1402 1178 84.0% 2013—2025 12.3 114 3.4  India IBM
Shan Liu [19] 1384 888 64.2% 2013—2025 11.7 118 3.4  USA Tencent
Yunjung Yi [20] 1322 906 68.5% 2011—2025 14.3 92 3.3  USA LG
Shou-Shan Fan [21] 1309 1094 83.6% 2006—2025 18.7 70 4.2  China Hon Hai
Paul Lapstun [22] 1305 246 18.9% 2000—2022 21.4 61 2.5  Australia Silverbrook Research
Alexander Reznicek [23] 1267 762 60.1% 2006—2025 19.1 66 3.9  USA IBM
Clarence T. Tegreene [24] 1250 903 72.2% 2000—2024 23.5 53 10.1  USA Intellectual Ventures
Suckchel Yang [25] 1230 795 64.6% 2013—2025 11.9 103 4.7  South Korea LG
Satoshi Seo [26] 1219 576 47.3% 2002—2025 22.4 54 4.1  Japan Semiconductor Energy Laboratory
Juan Montojo [27] 1177 955 81.1% 2004—2025 21.2 56 6.9  USA Qualcomm
Kijun Kim [28] 1165 810 69.5% 2013—2025 11.4 102 4.6  South Korea LG
Joonkui Ahn [29] 1151 750 65.2% 2013—2025 11.8 98 4.7  South Korea LG
Jason L. Harris [30] 1120 637 56.9% 2011—2025 14.3 78 6.0  USA Ethicon
Takahiro Nishi [31] 1112 376 33.8% 2001—2025 23.7 47 6.3  Japan Panasonic
Edward K. Y. Jung [32] 1111 794 71.5% 1996—2022 26.1 43 8.0  USA Intellectual Ventures
Leonard Forbes [33] 1109 411 37.1% 1975—2019 43.3 26 2.6  USA Micron
Marta Karczewicz [34] 1097 902 82.2% 2000—2025 24.4 45 4.0  USA Qualcomm
Thomas Edison [35] 1084 NA NA 1869—1933 63.9 17 1.0  USA Thomas Edison
Ruilong Xie [36] 1070 806 75.3% 2013—2025 12.3 87 4.2  USA IBM
Rick Allen Hamilton II [37] 1063 714 67.2% 1999—2024 25 43 4.2  USA IBM
Tingfang Ji [38] 1063 788 74.1% 2006—2025 18.8 57 6.9  USA Qualcomm
Jason K. Resch [39] 1039 515 49.6% 2009—2025 15.7 66 4.2  USA IBM
Seungmin Lee [40] 1028 766 74.5% 2014—2025 10.6 97 3.5  South Korea LG
Donald E. Weder [41] 1000 395 39.5% 1978—2015 37.1 27 1.1  USA Weder Family Trust
Michael J. Sullivan [42] 997 534 53.6% 1989—2024 34.5 29 3.8  USA Acushnet Holdings
George Albert Lyon [43] 993 NA NA 1901—1965 64.5 15 1.0  Canada Lyon George Albert
Jordin T. Kare [44] 991 640 64.6% 1992—2023 30.5 32 9.1  USA Intellectual Ventures
Jay S. Walker [45] 979 422 43.1% 1998—2024 26.3 37 5.2  USA Walker Digital
Ahmadreza Rofougaran [46] 976 472 48.4% 2002—2025 22.8 43 6.4  USA Broadcom
Hao Xu [47] 950 685 72.1% 2005—2025 20.1 47 4.7  China Qualcomm
John F. O'Connor [48] 949 NA NA 1901—1935 33.9 28 NA  USA William H. Miner
William H. Eby [49] 926 922 99.6% 1994—2025 31 30 1.2  USA Monsanto
Melvin De Groote [50] 925 NA NA 1924—1966 41.8 22 NA  USA Petrolite
David R. Hall [51] 921 762 82.7% 1985—2025 39.8 23 3.8  USA Hall Labs
Hajime Kimura [52] 917 291 31.7% 2002—2025 22.4 41 2.6  Japan Semiconductor Energy Laboratory
Yan Zhou [53] 910 802 88.1% 2012—2025 12.7 72 4.4  USA Qualcomm
Nathan Myhrvold [54] 907 613 67.6% 1994—2024 29.7 31 11.1  USA Intellectual Ventures
Francis H. Richards [55] 894 NA NA 1899—1930 30.8 29 NA  USA Francis H. Richards
Hongyuan Zhang [56] 891 483 54.2% 2009—2025 15.8 56 3.9  USA Marvell
Mark Malamud [57] 886 690 77.9% 1997—2022 25.1 35 7.5  USA Intellectual Ventures
Robert W. Lord [58] 868 682 78.6% 2003—2024 20.4 43 7.6  USA Intellectual Ventures
Justin T. Mason [59] 862 858 99.5% 2008—2025 16.5 52 1.0  USA MS Technologies
Royce A. Levien [60] 855 666 77.9% 1997—2020 23.4 37 6.8  USA Intellectual Ventures
Chih-Chao Yang [61] 847 531 62.7% 2003—2025 21.3 40 3.4  USA IBM
Lee D. Whetsel [62] 843 128 15.2% 1991—2017 26.4 32 1.1  USA Texas Instruments
Stuart C. Salter [63] 843 791 93.8% 2009—2025 15.4 55 4.8  USA Ford
Satoshi Nagata [64] 841 804 95.6% 2011—2025 13.6 62 4.0  Japan NTT
Muriel Y. Ishikawa [65] 840 560 66.7% 2002—2023 21.2 40 11.1  USA Intellectual Ventures
Michael K. Gschwind [66] 836 442 52.9% 2001—2021 20.6 41 2.6  USA IBM
Clifford A. Pickover [67] 836 548 65.6% 1992—2024 32.2 26 3.9  USA IBM
Devendra K. Sadana [68] 822 465 56.6% 1983—2025 42.2 19 4.3  USA IBM
Youngdae Lee [69] 822 648 78.8% 2014—2025 11.1 74 3.1  South Korea LG
Kyungmin Park [70] 821 402 49.0% 2014—2025 11 75 5.2  USA Ofinno
Hsien-Wei Chen [71] 821 388 47.3% 2005—2025 20.2 41 3.5  Taiwan TSMC
SungDuck Chun [72] 807 497 61.6% 2007—2025 17.5 46 3.8  South Korea LG
Salman Akram [73] 785 291 37.1% 1995—2024 29.4 27 2.9  USA Micron
Xue Dong [74] 776 752 96.9% 2010—2025 14.3 54 7.4  China BOE
Warren M. Farnworth [75] 774 289 37.3% 1990—2014 24.4 32 2.8  USA Micron
James A. Jorasch [76] 771 309 40.1% 1994—2023 29 27 3.9  USA Walker Digital
Hua Zhou [77] 770 414 53.8% 2012—2025 13.2 58 5.5  USA Ofinno
Bruce B. Doris [78] 764 434 56.8% 1995—2025 30.1 25 4.2  USA IBM
Frederick A. Ware [79] 759 230 30.3% 1981—2025 43.4 17 2.8  USA Rambus
Jeyhan Karaoguz [80] 757 371 49.0% 1996—2020 23.8 32 4.6  USA Broadcom
Ali Khakifirooz [81] 754 410 54.4% 2011—2025 13.5 56 4.2  USA IBM
Carleton Ellis [82] 753 NA NA 1902—1946 43.1 17 NA  USA Ellis Foster Co
Shougo Sato [83] 747 287 38.4% 1992—2025 32.6 23 1.8  Japan Brother
John M. Santosuosso [84] 738 466 63.1% 2001—2022 20.7 36 3.9  USA IBM
Jean-Philippe M. Vasseur [85] 736 597 81.1% 2006—2025 19 39 2.6  France Cisco Systems
Hideo Ando [86] 733 123 16.8% 1983—2020 36.7 20 3.1  Japan Toshiba
George Spector [87] 723 723 100% 1974—1998 24.6 29 2.1  USA George Spector
Chung-Shi Liu [88] 722 386 53.5% 2000—2025 25.2 29 6.1  Taiwan TSMC
Lisa Seacat DeLuca [89] 719 523 72.7% 2009—2025 16.2 44 2.7  USA IBM
Austin L. Gurney [90] 718 182 25.3% 1999—2021 21.6 33 2.9  USA Genentech
Gregory J. Boss [91] 715 492 68.8% 2008—2025 17.2 42 4.2  USA IBM
Jonghyun Park [92] 705 507 71.9% 2013—2025 12.2 58 3.8  USA LG
Toshiyasu Sugio [93] 705 255 36.2% 2009—2025 15.6 45 4.9  Japan Panasonic
Tetsujiro Kondo [94] 700 528 75.4% 1987—2021 34 21 3.8  Japan Sony
Woosuk Ko [95] 700 297 42.4% 2015—2025 10 70 3.4  South Korea LG
Elihu Thomson [96] 696 NA NA 1899—1935 35.9 19 NA  USA GE
Eric C. Leuthardt [97] 683 460 67.3% 2006—2025 18.5 37 9.1  USA Intellectual Ventures
Irwin Gerszberg [98] 682 312 45.7% 1994—2023 29.2 23 6.8  USA AT&T
Xiaochuan Chen [99] 682 662 97.1% 2014—2025 10.8 63 7.0  China BOE
Aleksandar Damnjanovic [100] 668 488 73.1% 2003—2025 21.8 31 4.4  USA Qualcomm

This table is usually updated every Tuesday, and is current as of May 20, 2025.

The columns are defined as follows:

  • Inventor: The name of the inventor.
  • Pats: The number of utility patents that have been issued. Only utility patents (or the international equivalent) are listed, as a utility patent is a patent for an invention. Not all patents are for inventions. Other patent types include: design patents for the ornamental design of an object; plant patents for plant varieties; and reissue patents, where a correction is made to an already granted patent. This list does not include patent applications (patents pending) as there is no guarantee that a patent application actually describes a novel invention until the patent is granted.
  • Fams: The number of patent families, which in USPTO data includes an original or continuation-in-part patent by itself or with one or more continuation or divisional patents based on the original or continuation-in-part patent. This is different than global patent families that represent a patent filed in more than one jurisdiction. "NA" signifies the inventor was active prior to digital records.
  • Fam %: The percentage of original and continuation-in-part patents that are in the inventor's patent portfolio [Fams column divided by Pats column, rounded to first decimal as a percentage]. "NA" signifies the inventor was active prior to digital records.
  • Pat Yrs: The first and last year in which an inventor received a patent issuance.
  • Yrs: The number of years from first issuance to most recent issuance, rounded to first decimal based on dates.
  • Pats /Yr: The average number of patents received per year [Pats column divided by Yrs column, rounded].
  • Inv / Pat: The average number of inventors listed on the inventor's most recent 50 patents as of September 7, 2021 or on the date the inventor was added to the table if later. "NA" signifies the inventor was active prior to digital records.
  • Pat Residence: The country of inventor's residence listed in their most recent patent issuance.
  • Majority Assignment: The entity that has the most patents assigned from an inventor's portfolio. This is current and not original assignment. It is usually, but not always an indication of which company the inventor worked at for the majority of their patent activity.

Significance of inventions

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This table is a sortable list of the most prolific inventors as measured by utility patents granted. It does not include other types of invention, such as inventions that were never applied for nor granted, for which there is no known source. Nor does the table attempt to measure the significance of an inventor and their inventions. The significance of inventions is often not apparent until many decades after the invention has been made. For recent inventors, it is not yet possible to determine their place in history.

Various published lists

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Rankings of prolific inventors have been published at various times. However, until the patent records were digitized, these lists were very tedious to prepare, as many thousands of patent records had to be checked manually. Even after digitization, it is still not a simple process. While the USPTO keeps statistics for annual rankings of inventions assigned to companies, it no longer publishes rankings of individual inventors. The last such list was published by the USPTO in 1998.[Info 1] Also, patents predating 1976 have not yet been digitized in the USPTO records. This means that patents before 1976 will not be included in a USPTO search by inventor name, and the number of patents granted before 1976 must be added to current searches.

A more extensive list of prolific inventors with additional information and ability to filter on country, gender, time period, patent type, and Nobel laureate title can be found at idiyas.com/top/inventors. There are some discrepancies with this article due to different inventor queries that attempt to account for data issues such as typos and multiple inventors with the same name.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "USPTO publication: Prolific Inventors Receiving Utility Patents 1988–1997" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-05-02. Retrieved 2011-07-12.

References of Inventors' Patents

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  1. ^ Shunpei Yamazaki
  2. ^ Kia Silverbrook
  3. ^ Tao Luo
  4. ^ Kangguo Cheng
  5. ^ Frederick E. Shelton IV
  6. ^ Junyi Li
  7. ^ Peter Gaal
  8. ^ Wanshi Chen
  9. ^ Lowell L. Wood, Jr.
  10. ^ Xiaoxia Zhang
  11. ^ Roderick A. Hyde
  12. ^ Chen-Hua Yu
  13. ^ Esmael H. Dinan
  14. ^ Hanbyul Seo
  15. ^ Jing Sun
  16. ^ Jun Koyama
  17. ^ Gurtej Singh Sandhu
  18. ^ Sarbajit K. Rakshit
  19. ^ Shan Liu
  20. ^ Yunjung Yi
  21. ^ Shou-Shan Fan
  22. ^ Paul Lapstun
  23. ^ Alexander Reznicek
  24. ^ Clarence T. Tegreene
  25. ^ Suckchel Yang
  26. ^ Satoshi Seo
  27. ^ Juan Montojo
  28. ^ Kijun Kim
  29. ^ Joonkui Ahn
  30. ^ Jason L. Harris
  31. ^ Takahiro Nishi
  32. ^ Edward K. Y. Jung
  33. ^ Leonard Forbes
  34. ^ Marta Karczewicz
  35. ^ Thomas Edison
  36. ^ Ruilong Xie
  37. ^ Rick Allen Hamilton II
  38. ^ Tingfang Ji
  39. ^ Jason K. Resch
  40. ^ Seungmin Lee
  41. ^ Donald E. Weder
  42. ^ Michael J. Sullivan
  43. ^ George Albert Lyon
  44. ^ Jordin T. Kare
  45. ^ Jay S. Walker
  46. ^ Ahmadreza Rofougaran
  47. ^ Hao Xu
  48. ^ John F. O'Connor
  49. ^ William H. Eby
  50. ^ Melvin De Groote
  51. ^ David R. Hall
  52. ^ Hajime Kimura
  53. ^ Yan Zhou
  54. ^ Nathan Myhrvold
  55. ^ Francis H. Richards
  56. ^ Hongyuan Zhang
  57. ^ Mark Malamud
  58. ^ Robert W. Lord
  59. ^ Justin T. Mason
  60. ^ Royce A. Levien
  61. ^ Chih-Chao Yang
  62. ^ Lee D. Whetsel
  63. ^ Stuart C. Salter
  64. ^ Satoshi Nagata
  65. ^ Muriel Y. Ishikawa
  66. ^ Michael K. Gschwind
  67. ^ Clifford A. Pickover
  68. ^ Devendra K. Sadana
  69. ^ Youngdae Lee
  70. ^ Kyungmin Park
  71. ^ Hsien-Wei Chen
  72. ^ SungDuck Chun
  73. ^ Salman Akram
  74. ^ Xue Dong
  75. ^ Warren M. Farnworth
  76. ^ James A. Jorasch
  77. ^ Hua Zhou
  78. ^ Bruce B. Doris
  79. ^ Frederick A. Ware
  80. ^ Jeyhan Karaoguz
  81. ^ Ali Khakifirooz
  82. ^ Carleton Ellis
  83. ^ Shougo Sato
  84. ^ John M. Santosuosso
  85. ^ Jean-Philippe M. Vasseur
  86. ^ Hideo Ando
  87. ^ George Spector
  88. ^ Chung-Shi Liu
  89. ^ Lisa Seacat DeLuca
  90. ^ Austin L. Gurney
  91. ^ Gregory J. Boss
  92. ^ Jonghyun Park
  93. ^ Toshiyasu Sugio
  94. ^ Tetsujiro Kondo
  95. ^ Woosuk Ko
  96. ^ Elihu Thomson
  97. ^ Eric C. Leuthardt
  98. ^ Irwin Gerszberg
  99. ^ Xiaochuan Chen
  100. ^ Aleksandar Damnjanovic