List of prolific inventors

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Template:Short description 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

Inventor Pats Fams Fam % Pat Yrs Yrs Pat /Yr Inv /Pat Pat Residence Majority Assignment
Shunpei Yamazaki [1] 6561 2885 44.0% 1972—2025 53.2 123 3.6 File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan Semiconductor Energy Laboratory
Kia Silverbrook [2] 4747 1311 27.6% 1994—2014 20 237 1.6 File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Silverbrook Research
Tao Luo [3] 4021 3351 83.3% 2006—2025 19.1 211 5.6 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Qualcomm
Kangguo Cheng [4] 2797 1545 55.2% 2004—2025 20.6 136 3.9 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA IBM
Frederick E. Shelton IV [5] 2563 1190 46.4% 2005—2025 20 128 4.5 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Ethicon
Junyi Li [6] 2532 2135 84.3% 2002—2025 22.6 112 5.2 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Qualcomm
Peter Gaal [7] 2403 1851 77.0% 2002—2025 22.8 105 5.9 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Qualcomm
Wanshi Chen [8] 2229 1717 77.0% 2009—2025 16.1 138 5.7 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Qualcomm
Lowell L. Wood, Jr. [9] 1998 1326 66.4% 1971—2025 53.4 37 8.8 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Intellectual Ventures
Xiaoxia Zhang [10] 1939 1642 84.7% 2009—2025 16.4 118 5.5 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Qualcomm
Roderick A. Hyde [11] 1892 1252 66.2% 2001—2023 22.4 84 8.7 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Intellectual Ventures
Chen-Hua Yu [12] 1848 970 52.5% 1996—2025 29 64 4.9 File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan TSMC
Esmael H. Dinan [13] 1798 734 40.8% 2006—2025 19 95 3.6 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Ofinno
Hanbyul Seo [14] 1762 1309 74.3% 2012—2025 13.1 135 3.8 File:Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea LG
Jing Sun [15] 1604 1338 83.4% 2012—2025 12.5 128 5.9 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Qualcomm
Jun Koyama [16] 1504 618 41.1% 1991—2022 30.8 49 3.1 File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan Semiconductor Energy Laboratory
Gurtej Singh Sandhu [17] 1431 584 40.8% 1991—2024 32.5 44 2.5 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Micron
Sarbajit K. Rakshit [18] 1423 1198 84.2% 2013—2025 12.4 115 3.4 File:Flag of India.svg India IBM
Shan Liu [19] 1404 898 64.0% 2013—2025 11.8 119 3.4 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Tencent
Yunjung Yi [20] 1331 913 68.6% 2011—2025 14.4 92 3.3 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA LG
Shou-Shan Fan [21] 1312 1097 83.6% 2006—2025 19.1 69 4.2 File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China Hon Hai
Paul Lapstun [22] 1305 246 18.9% 2000—2022 21.4 61 2.5 File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Silverbrook Research
Alexander Reznicek [23] 1271 766 60.3% 2006—2025 19.1 67 3.9 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA IBM
Clarence T. Tegreene [24] 1250 903 72.2% 2000—2024 23.5 53 10.1 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Intellectual Ventures
Suckchel Yang [25] 1234 797 64.6% 2013—2025 11.9 104 4.7 File:Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea LG
Satoshi Seo [26] 1225 581 47.4% 2002—2025 22.5 54 4.1 File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan Semiconductor Energy Laboratory
Juan Montojo [27] 1188 966 81.3% 2004—2025 21.3 56 6.9 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Qualcomm
Kijun Kim [28] 1167 811 69.5% 2013—2025 11.5 101 4.6 File:Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea LG
Joonkui Ahn [29] 1156 755 65.3% 2013—2025 11.9 97 4.7 File:Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea LG
Jason L. Harris [30] 1129 641 56.8% 2011—2025 14.4 78 6.0 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Ethicon
Takahiro Nishi [31] 1121 378 33.7% 2001—2025 23.8 47 6.3 File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan Panasonic
Edward K. Y. Jung [32] 1111 794 71.5% 1996—2022 26.1 43 8.0 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Intellectual Ventures
Leonard Forbes [33] 1109 411 37.1% 1975—2019 43.3 26 2.6 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Micron
Marta Karczewicz [34] 1108 910 82.1% 2000—2025 24.5 45 4.0 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Qualcomm
Ruilong Xie [35] 1089 823 75.6% 2013—2025 12.4 88 4.2 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA IBM
Thomas Edison [36] 1084 NA NA 1869—1933 63.9 17 1.0 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Thomas Edison
Tingfang Ji [37] 1071 794 74.1% 2006—2025 18.8 57 6.9 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Qualcomm
Rick Allen Hamilton II [38] 1063 714 67.2% 1999—2024 25 43 4.2 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA IBM
Jason K. Resch [39] 1042 515 49.4% 2009—2025 15.8 66 4.2 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA IBM
Seungmin Lee [40] 1035 772 74.6% 2014—2025 10.7 97 3.5 File:Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea LG
Donald E. Weder [41] 1000 395 39.5% 1978—2015 37.1 27 1.1 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Weder Family Trust
Michael J. Sullivan [42] 997 534 53.6% 1989—2024 34.5 29 3.8 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Acushnet Holdings
George Albert Lyon [43] 993 NA NA 1901—1965 64.5 15 1.0 File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada Lyon George Albert
Jordin T. Kare [44] 991 640 64.6% 1992—2023 30.5 32 9.1 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Intellectual Ventures
Jay S. Walker [45] 980 422 43.1% 1998—2024 26.3 37 5.2 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Walker Digital
Ahmadreza Rofougaran [46] 979 475 48.5% 2002—2025 23 43 6.4 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Broadcom
Hao Xu [47] 959 693 72.3% 2005—2025 20.2 47 4.7 File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China Qualcomm
John F. O'Connor [48] 949 NA NA 1901—1935 33.9 28 NA File:Flag of the United States.svg USA William H. Miner
Yan Zhou [49] 936 823 87.9% 2012—2025 12.8 73 4.4 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Qualcomm
William H. Eby [50] 928 924 99.6% 1994—2025 31.1 30 1.2 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Monsanto
Melvin De Groote [51] 925 NA NA 1924—1966 41.8 22 NA File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Petrolite
David R. Hall [52] 921 762 82.7% 1985—2025 39.8 23 3.8 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Hall Labs
Hajime Kimura [53] 919 293 31.9% 2002—2025 22.6 41 2.6 File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan Semiconductor Energy Laboratory
Nathan Myhrvold [54] 907 613 67.6% 1994—2024 29.7 31 11.1 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Intellectual Ventures
Hongyuan Zhang [55] 896 485 54.1% 2009—2025 16.1 56 3.9 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Marvell
Francis H. Richards [56] 894 NA NA 1899—1930 30.8 29 NA File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Francis H. Richards
Mark Malamud [57] 886 690 77.9% 1997—2022 25.1 35 7.5 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Intellectual Ventures
Justin T. Mason [58] 879 875 99.5% 2008—2025 16.6 53 1.0 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA MS Technologies
Robert W. Lord [59] 868 682 78.6% 2003—2024 20.4 43 7.6 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Intellectual Ventures
Royce A. Levien [60] 855 666 77.9% 1997—2020 23.4 37 6.8 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Intellectual Ventures
Chih-Chao Yang [61] 854 538 63.0% 2003—2025 21.5 40 3.4 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA IBM
Satoshi Nagata [62] 853 816 95.7% 2011—2025 13.7 62 4.0 File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan NTT
Stuart C. Salter [63] 850 798 93.9% 2009—2025 15.5 55 4.8 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Ford
Lee D. Whetsel [64] 844 128 15.2% 1991—2017 26.4 32 1.1 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Texas Instruments
Muriel Y. Ishikawa [65] 840 560 66.7% 2002—2023 21.2 40 11.1 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Intellectual Ventures
Kyungmin Park [66] 840 415 49.4% 2014—2025 11.1 76 5.2 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Ofinno
Michael K. Gschwind [67] 836 442 52.9% 2001—2021 20.6 41 2.6 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA IBM
Clifford A. Pickover [68] 836 548 65.6% 1992—2024 32.2 26 3.9 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA IBM
Hsien-Wei Chen [69] 826 387 46.9% 2005—2025 20.3 41 3.5 File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan TSMC
Devendra K. Sadana [70] 824 467 56.7% 1983—2025 42.3 19 4.3 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA IBM
Youngdae Lee [71] 824 648 78.6% 2014—2025 11.1 74 3.1 File:Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea LG
SungDuck Chun [72] 814 504 61.9% 2007—2025 17.5 47 3.8 File:Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea LG
Hua Zhou [73] 790 423 53.5% 2012—2025 13.3 59 5.5 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Ofinno
Salman Akram [74] 785 291 37.1% 1995—2024 29.4 27 2.9 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Micron
Xue Dong [75] 782 758 96.9% 2010—2025 14.5 54 7.4 File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China BOE
Warren M. Farnworth [76] 774 289 37.3% 1990—2014 24.4 32 2.8 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Micron
James A. Jorasch [77] 772 309 40.0% 1994—2023 29 27 3.9 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Walker Digital
Bruce B. Doris [78] 765 435 56.9% 1995—2025 30.3 25 4.2 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA IBM
Frederick A. Ware [79] 762 229 30.1% 1981—2025 43.4 18 2.8 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Rambus
Jeyhan Karaoguz [80] 757 371 49.0% 1996—2020 23.8 32 4.6 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Broadcom
Ali Khakifirooz [81] 756 412 54.5% 2011—2025 13.8 55 4.2 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA IBM
Carleton Ellis [82] 753 NA NA 1902—1946 43.1 17 NA File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Ellis Foster Co
Shougo Sato [83] 752 289 38.4% 1992—2025 32.7 23 1.8 File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan Brother
John M. Santosuosso [84] 738 466 63.1% 2001—2022 20.7 36 3.9 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA IBM
Jean-Philippe M. Vasseur [85] 737 597 81.0% 2006—2025 19 39 2.6 File:Flag of France.svg France Cisco Systems
Hideo Ando [86] 733 123 16.8% 1983—2020 36.7 20 3.1 File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan Toshiba
George Spector [87] 723 723 100% 1974—1998 24.6 29 2.1 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA George Spector
Chung-Shi Liu [88] 723 387 53.5% 2000—2025 25.4 28 6.1 File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan TSMC
Lisa Seacat DeLuca [89] 719 523 72.7% 2009—2025 16.2 44 2.7 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA IBM
Austin L. Gurney [90] 718 182 25.3% 1999—2021 21.6 33 2.9 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Genentech
Gregory J. Boss [91] 716 493 68.9% 2008—2025 17.3 41 4.2 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA IBM
Toshiyasu Sugio [92] 712 260 36.5% 2009—2025 15.7 45 4.9 File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan Panasonic
Jonghyun Park [93] 708 509 71.9% 2013—2025 12.4 57 3.8 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA LG
Woosuk Ko [94] 701 298 42.5% 2015—2025 10.1 69 3.4 File:Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea LG
Tetsujiro Kondo [95] 700 528 75.4% 1987—2021 34 21 3.8 File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan Sony
Elihu Thomson [96] 696 NA NA 1899—1935 35.9 19 NA File:Flag of the United States.svg USA GE
Xiaochuan Chen [97] 685 665 97.1% 2014—2025 10.9 63 7.0 File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China BOE
Eric C. Leuthardt [98] 684 461 67.4% 2006—2025 18.6 37 9.1 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Intellectual Ventures
Irwin Gerszberg [99] 682 312 45.7% 1994—2023 29.2 23 6.8 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA AT&T
Aleksandar Damnjanovic [100] 670 489 73.0% 2003—2025 21.8 31 4.4 File:Flag of the United States.svg USA Qualcomm

This table is usually updated every Tuesday, and is current as of June 24, 2025Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"..

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, 2021Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 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

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

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 Script error: No such module "URL".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. 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

References

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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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. ↑ Ruilong Xie
  36. ↑ Thomas Edison
  37. ↑ Tingfang Ji
  38. ↑ Rick Allen Hamilton II
  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. ↑ Yan Zhou
  50. ↑ William H. Eby
  51. ↑ Melvin De Groote
  52. ↑ David R. Hall
  53. ↑ Hajime Kimura
  54. ↑ Nathan Myhrvold
  55. ↑ Hongyuan Zhang
  56. ↑ Francis H. Richards
  57. ↑ Mark Malamud
  58. ↑ Justin T. Mason
  59. ↑ Robert W. Lord
  60. ↑ Royce A. Levien
  61. ↑ Chih-Chao Yang
  62. ↑ Satoshi Nagata
  63. ↑ Stuart C. Salter
  64. ↑ Lee D. Whetsel
  65. ↑ Muriel Y. Ishikawa
  66. ↑ Kyungmin Park
  67. ↑ Michael K. Gschwind
  68. ↑ Clifford A. Pickover
  69. ↑ Hsien-Wei Chen
  70. ↑ Devendra K. Sadana
  71. ↑ Youngdae Lee
  72. ↑ SungDuck Chun
  73. ↑ Hua Zhou
  74. ↑ Salman Akram
  75. ↑ Xue Dong
  76. ↑ Warren M. Farnworth
  77. ↑ James A. Jorasch
  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. ↑ Toshiyasu Sugio
  93. ↑ Jonghyun Park
  94. ↑ Woosuk Ko
  95. ↑ Tetsujiro Kondo
  96. ↑ Elihu Thomson
  97. ↑ Xiaochuan Chen
  98. ↑ Eric C. Leuthardt
  99. ↑ Irwin Gerszberg
  100. ↑ Aleksandar Damnjanovic

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