Organic semiconductor patents increase 44% year-on-year

cintelliq releases the latest quarterly analysis of organic semiconductor patents 

cintelliq ltd, the world's leading provider of information services and strategic consulting to the organic semiconductor industry, revealed in a recent report that the number of organic semiconductor patents that were published or granted by the European, US and World patent offices increased by 44% year-on-year, from 1,958 in 2004 to 2,813 in 2005. These 2,813 patents were filed by 410 different assignees. The top 48 assignees accounted for 1,989 European , US and World patents, 70% of the total. Kodak continues to dominate the patent landscape with 213 of the granted and published patents. OLED patents accounted for 76% and materials related patents accounted for 40%.



The report is the Q2 2006 issue of the Organic Semiconductor Patent Analyst (OSPA) which analyses the1,674 granted and published patents relating to organic semiconductor technologies issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), European Patent Office (EPO) and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) during Q4 2005*.



The number of published and granted EP, US and WO organic semiconductor patents for Q4 2005 was 890, a 27% increase on the previous quarter (Q3 2005), and a 64% increase compared to the same period in the previous year (Q4 2004).

The total number of JP patents published in Q3 2005 was 784, a 9% decrease on the previous quarter (Q2 2005) and a 6% increase compared to the same period in the previous year (Q3 2004)*.

Highlights from the Q2 2006 issue of the Organic Semiconductor Patent Analyst:

Each quarter cintelliq reviews and classifies each and every patent using its proprietary classification system known as OSG (Organic Semiconductor Groups). Using OSG cintelliq can identify the areas of greatest patent activity as well as highlighting interesting trends in research and IP strategy. Under this system each patent is classified according to two groups - Basic Components (BComp) and Functional Components (FComp).

Patents Q4 2005* broken down by OSG Functional Components (FComp)
FComp EP JP* US WO Total
LED 124 698 425 174 1421
Transistors 13 38 17 9 77
Photovoltaic 3 7 6 4 20
Laser - - 2 1 3
Sensors 2 4 3 3 12
Memory Cell 8 3 15 10 36
Other 19 34 28 24 105
Total 169 784 496 225 1674

Patents Q4 2005* broken down by OSG Basic Components (BComp)
BComp EP JP* US WO Total
Material 64 161 114 90 429
Patterning 6 17 16 3 42
Deposition 7 77 24 13 121
Substrates 2 32 6 1 41
Encapsulation 4 76 36 16 132
Device Structure 46 156 168 66 436
Fabrication 9 60 49 11 129
Other 31 205 83 25 344
Total 169 784 496 225 1674

In total 361 different assignees accounted for the 1,674 EP, JP, US and WO patents covered in this issue of OSPA. Analysing these in more depth reveals that:

  • 65 assignees accounted for 169 EP published and granted patents
  • 158 assignees accounted for 496 US published and granted patents
  • 138 assignees accounted for784 JP published patents
Q4 2005: The top 10 assignees account for 41% (373) of the granted and published EP, US and WO patents
Assignee Rank Q4 2005 Rank Q3 2005
Eastman Kodak 1 1
Semiconductor Energy Lab 2 3
Seiko Epson 3 7
Samsung SDI 4 2
Idemitsu Kosan 5 4
LG Electronics 6 6
AU Optronics 7 -
Philips Electronics 8 10
E I Du Pont de Nemours 9 5
Sanyo Electric 10 9

Q3 2005: The top 10 assignees account for 54% (427) of the published JP patents
Assignee Rank Q3 2005 Rank Q2 2005
Seiko Epson 1 1
Sony 2 4
Semiconductor Energy Lab 3 3
Samsung SDI 4 2
Fuji Photo Film 5 7
Sharp 6 10
Sanyo Electric 7 5
Tohoku Pioneer 8 -
Canon 9 6
LG Philips LCD 10 -

This issue of OSPA contains a detailed analysis of patents relating to organic transistors that were published or granted in 2004. Our analysis found that the various PTOs tend to use different IPC codes to classify organic transistor patents making this a problematic basis on which to select relevant patent data and highlighting the benefits of our own organic semiconductor grouping (OSG) classification scheme. A total of 313 patents were identified and our findings include:

  • Konica Minolta was the assignee with the largest number of patents (48).
  • The top three inventors (led by Hirai Katsura with 39 patents) also came from Konica Minolta.
  • Japan was the priority country for 48% of the organic transistor patents.

According to Craig Cruickshank, principal analyst and founder of cintelliq, "Looking at the data for 2005 it is encouraging to see continued growth in innovation across all segments of the industry."

The Organic Semiconductor Patent Analyst (OSPA) provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of patents granted and published in the organic semiconductor industry. Issued quarterly, OSPA analyses relevant organic semiconductor patents that have been published in the previous quarter by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), European Patent Office (EPO) and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

The Organic Semiconductor Patent Analyst is available on subscription (four quarterly issues) as either a paper publication (£2,400) or electronically as a 20 user site licence (please contact us for pricing).

For more information about OSPA This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

* The report covers EP, US and WO patents issued in Q4 2005 and JP patents issued in Q3 2005. This difference is because English translations of JP published patents are only available four months after their Japanese publication date.

10 October 2006