cintelliq releases the latest quarterly analysis of organic semiconductor patents
cintelliq has released the Q1 2006 issue of the Organic Semiconductor Patent Analyst (OSPA). The Q1 2006 issue analyses the 1,598
granted and published patents relating to organic semiconductor technologies that were 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 Q3 2005*.
The number of published and granted EP, US and WO organic semiconductor patents for Q3 2005 was 732, a 20% increase on the previous quarter (Q2 2005), and a
41% increase compared to the same period in the previous year (Q3 2004).
The total number of JP patents published in Q2 2005 was 866, a 26% increase on the previous quarter (Q1 2005) and a 27% increase compared to the same
period in the previous year (Q2 2004)*.
Highlights from the Q1 2006 issue of the Organic Semiconductor Patent Analyst
Each quarter cintelliq reviews and classifies each and every patent using our proprietary classification system known as OSG (Organic
Semiconductor Groupings). This produces much more meaningful groupings of inventions than those produced by the international patent classifications. Using OSG we
are able to identify the areas of greatest patent activity as well as highlight interesting trends in research and patenting. Currently, we classify each patent
according to two groups - Basic Components (BComp) and Functional Components (FComp).
| Patents Q3 2005* broken down by OSG Functional Components (FComp) |
| FComp |
EP |
JP* |
US |
WO |
Total |
| LED |
112 |
779 |
330 |
98 |
1319 |
| Transistors |
10 |
43 |
22 |
19 |
94 |
| Photovoltaic |
3 |
4 |
13 |
5 |
25 |
| Laser |
|
|
3 |
|
3 |
| Sensors |
|
2 |
3 |
3 |
8 |
| Memory Cell |
14 |
6 |
16 |
8 |
44 |
| Other |
14 |
32 |
34 |
25 |
105 |
| Total |
153 |
866 |
421 |
158 |
1598 |
| Patents Q3 2005* broken down by OSG Basic Components (BComp) |
| BComp |
EP |
JP* |
US |
WO |
Total |
| Material |
61 |
177 |
147 |
90 |
475 |
| Patterning |
6 |
27 |
12 |
1 |
46 |
| Deposition |
8 |
87 |
25 |
12 |
132 |
| Substrates |
3 |
13 |
7 |
3 |
26 |
| Encapsulation |
6 |
51 |
41 |
6 |
104 |
| Device Structure |
50 |
189 |
121 |
31 |
391 |
| Fabrication |
11 |
78 |
32 |
6 |
127 |
| Other |
8 |
244 |
36 |
9 |
297 |
| Total |
153 |
866 |
421 |
158 |
1598 |
In total 280 different assignees accounted for the 1,598
EP, JP, US and WO patents covered in this issue of OSPA. Analysing these in more depth reveals that:
- 79 assignees accounted for 153 EP published and granted patents
- 123 assignees accounted for 421 US published and granted patents
- 141 assignees accounted for 866 JP published patents
| Q3 2005: The top 11 assignees account for 40%
(292) of the EP, US and WO patents |
| Assignee |
Rank Q3 2005 |
Rank Q2 2005 |
| Eastman Kodak Co |
1 |
1 |
| Samsung SDI Co Ltd |
2 |
2 |
| Semiconductor Energy Lab Co Ltd |
3 |
3 |
| Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd |
4 |
9 |
| E I Du Pont de Nemours and Co |
5 |
5 |
| LG Electronics Inc |
6 |
7 |
| Seiko Epson Corp |
7 |
4 |
| Canon Inc |
8 |
6 |
| Sanyo Electric Co Ltd |
9 |
10
|
| Fuji Photo Film Co Ltd |
10 |
13 |
| Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV |
10 |
18 |
| Q2 2005: The top 11 assignees account for
60% (515) of the published JP patents |
| Assignee |
Rank Q2 2005 |
Rank Q1 2005 |
| Seiko Epson Corp |
1 |
1 |
| Samsung SDI Co Ltd |
2 |
4 |
| Semiconductor Energy Lab Co Ltd |
3 |
2 |
| Sony Corp |
4 |
3 |
| Sanyo Electric Co Ltd |
5 |
11 |
| Canon Inc |
6 |
5 |
| Fuji Photo Film Co Ltd |
7 |
12 |
| Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology |
8 |
38 |
| TDK Corp |
9 |
18 |
| Sharp Corp |
10 |
8 |
| Toyota Industries Corp |
10 |
9 |
Inventors of organic semiconductor patents
In this issue of OSPA we identify the key inventors of organic semiconductor patents for the period 2003-2005. Our findings include:
- The inventor with the most organic LED patents is S Yamazaki (Semiconductor Energy Laboratory, Japan), for organic transistors the
most prolific inventors are K Hirai (Minolta, Japan) and then W Fix (PolyIC, Germany), for photovoltaics the top inventor is C Brabec
(Konarka Technologies, US) and for organic memory devices it is S Pangrle (AMD, USA).
- For photovoltaics, the top eight inventors are all from Konarka Technologies and for organic memory patents the top nine inventors are from AMD.
- There are 8,846 individual inventors, with an average of 2.8 inventors per patent and the average inventor appears on 3.8 patents.
- For organic semiconductor patents where the priority country is
- Japan: S Yamazaki (Semiconductor Energy Laboratory) is the most prolific inventor.
- USA: the top inventor is R S Cok (Eastman Kodak), followed by Professors S Forrest (Princeton University) and M Thompson (University of Southern California).
- European countries: the top three inventors are from Merck KGaA, led by I McCulloch.
According to Craig Cruickshank, principal
analyst and founder of cintelliq, "Looking at the data for July-September 2005, we continue to see an increasing level of activity in
organic semiconductor technology, with 1,923 EP, US and WO patents published during the first nine months of 2005, and 1,553 JP patents published in the first six months.
cintelliq expects that 2005 will see significant year on year growth building on the 5,101 organic semiconductor patents granted and published
by 613 assignees during 2004."
For more information about the latest issue of the Organic Semiconductor Patent Report, click here
* The report covers EP, US and WO patents issued in Q3 2005 and JP patents issued in Q2 2005. This difference is because
English translations of JP published patents are only available four months after their Japanese publication date.
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