Alibaba has a total of 68384 patents globally, out of which 8175 have been granted. Of these 68384 patents, more than 75% patents are active. China is where Alibaba has filed the maximum number of patents, followed by Hong Kong (S.A.R.) and United States of America. Parallelly, China seems to be the main focused R&D centre and also is the origin country of Alibaba.
Alibaba was founded in the year 1999. Alibaba functions as an e-commerce enterprise, engaging in the distribution and retail of a wide range of products such as consumer electronics, machinery, apparel, food, chemicals, bags, and sports items. Additionally, the company offers services in online shopping search engine development and cloud computing and many more.
Do read about some of the most popular patents of Alibaba which have been covered by us in this article and also you can find Alibaba patents information, the worldwide patent filing activity and its patent filing trend over the years, and many other stats over Alibaba patent portfolio.
How many patents does Alibaba have?
Alibaba has a total of 68384 patents globally. These patents belong to 39171 unique patent families. Out of 68384 patents, 51719 patents are active.
How Many Patents did Alibaba File Every Year?
Are you wondering why there is a drop in patent filing for the last two years? It is because a patent application can take up to 18 months to get published. Certainly, it doesn’t suggest a decrease in the patent filing.
| Year of Patents Filing or Grant | Alibaba Applications Filed | Alibaba Patents Granted |
| 2023 | 1629 | 244 |
| 2022 | 4740 | 854 |
| 2021 | 3361 | 1517 |
| 2020 | 6420 | 1703 |
| 2019 | 11211 | 1140 |
| 2018 | 11411 | 614 |
| 2017 | 8143 | 651 |
| 2016 | 7232 | 905 |
| 2015 | 5603 | 391 |
| 2014 | 2569 | 26 |
| 2013 | 1644 | 15 |
| 2012 | 1351 | 13 |
How many Alibaba patents are Alive/Dead?
How Many Patents did Alibaba File in Different Countries?
Countries in which Alibaba Filed Patents
| Country | Patents |
| China | 36491 |
| Hong Kong (S.A.R.) | 7411 |
| United States Of America | 5028 |
| Taiwan | 3177 |
| Europe | 1943 |
| Japan | 1647 |
| Singapore | 1464 |
| India | 916 |
| Korea (South) | 855 |
| Malaysia | 452 |
| Philippines | 428 |
| Thailand | 344 |
| Australia | 335 |
| Viet Nam | 238 |
| Germany | 213 |
| Canada | 210 |
| Indonesia | 208 |
| Spain | 179 |
| Poland | 167 |
| Brazil | 134 |
| Norway | 133 |
| Russia | 124 |
| Mexico | 114 |
| South Africa | 108 |
| Pakistan | 38 |
| United Kingdom | 18 |
| Macao | 12 |
| Austria | 8 |
| Africa | 5 |
| Turkey | 2 |
| Israel | 1 |
| Colombia | 1 |
| New Zealand | 1 |
Where are Research Centres of Alibaba Patents Located?
What Technologies are covered by Alibaba Patents?
Renowned as a Chinese multinational conglomerate, Alibaba has a robust and innovative patent portfolio reflecting its commitment to advancing the landscape of e-commerce globally. Alibaba’s patents span a wide spectrum of domains, including Data processing, Payments, Communication, Logistics and Artificial Intelligence.
Alibaba has quite a few patents in the domains of Robotics, Drone, Electric utility, Augmented Reality, Cloud computing and Navigation.
They have filed the maximum patents related to Data processing which include patents related to digital data information retrieval, special data processing and input/output processes for data processing, among many.
This is followed by patents filed under Artificial Intelligence which include patents related to deep learning, computer vision, natural language processing and machine learning, along with the others.
Storage system include patents related to storage medium, amongst many.
The Alibaba’s patent portfolio includes several intriguing patents that describe interesting methods and technologies. Here are descriptions of a few of them:
CN111661062A, describes a self-driving vehicle technology which helps cars sense the road using sensors, plan the route on its own, and drive to a set destination automatically.
CN115359796A, describes a method which simplifies sign language for digital broadcasting by translating regular text into simplified sign language, enabling a digital person to express actions more effectively. By reducing action names, it improves user experience, especially benefiting the clarity of sign language for the hearing-impaired.
CN115392227A, describes an invention regarding generation of personalized emotion curves for virtual objects from target text information. It analyzes text segments, extracts emotional and intentional features, and combines them with preset personality parameters to create nuanced and individualized emotional displays.
The chart below distributes patents filed by Alibaba in different countries on the basis of the technology protected in patents. It also represents the markets where Alibaba thinks it’s important to protect particular technology inventions.
R&D Focus: How Alibaba’s Research Focus Changed Over the Years?
10 Best Alibaba Patents
US20040003323A1 is the most popular patent in the Alibaba portfolio. It has received 285 citations so far from companies like Fireeye, Huawei Technologies and Intel Corporation.
Below is the list of 10 most cited patents of Alibaba:
| Publication Number | Citation Count |
| US20040003323A1 | 285 |
| US20130102283A1 | 284 |
| US20100138347A1 | 225 |
| US20120131438A1 | 222 |
| CN107294709A | 204 |
| USD762655S1 | 198 |
| CN105469263A | 173 |
| US7913303B1 | 165 |
| US20070240206A1 | 147 |
| US20040003324A1 | 137 |
How many inventions of other companies were rejected due to Alibaba patents?
The statistics below share strategic R&D insights. It tells the companies that were trying to protect inventions similar to Alibaba invention. They couldn’t because Alibaba had protected those before them.
Examiners at the USPTO referred 1153 Alibaba patents in 3810 rejections (35 USC § 102 or 35 USC § 103 types).
The top citing companies in the Alibaba patent portfolio are IBM, Microsoft Technology and Samsung Electronics.
List of the Companies whose Patents were rejected citing Alibaba –
| Company | Number of Patent Applications that faced Rejection Citing Alibaba Patents | Number of Rejections (102 & 103) |
| IBM | 144 | 287 |
| Microsoft Technology | 74 | 137 |
| Samsung Electronics | 72 | 163 |
| Tencent Technology | 63 | 122 |
| 49 | 99 | |
| Huawei Technologies | 30 | 69 |
| Amazon | 30 | 48 |
| Ebay | 29 | 62 |
| Meta Platforms | 28 | 65 |
| Emc Ip Holding Company | 28 | 56 |
Count of 102 and 103 Type Rejections based on Alibaba Patents
Top Alibaba Patents used in Rejecting Most Patent Applications
| Patent Number | Count of Rejected Applications |
| US20130102283A1 | 27 |
| US20130262479A1 | 15 |
| US20130030950A1 | 11 |
| US20130046772A1 | 11 |
| US20120100869A1 | 11 |
| US20140297476A1 | 10 |
| US20100299553A1 | 9 |
| US20130054569A1 | 9 |
| US20110191211A1 | 9 |
| US20120304292A1 | 9 |
| US20120331519A1 | 9 |
| US20070240206A1 | 9 |
| US20130102268A1 | 8 |
| US20120100867A1 | 8 |
| US20140310366A1 | 8 |
What Percentage of Alibaba US Patent Applications were Granted?
Alibaba (Excluding its subsidiaries) has filed 4600 patent applications at USPTO so far (Excluding Design and PCT applications). Out of these 3330 have been granted leading to a grant rate of 80.20%.
Below are the key stats of Alibaba patent prosecution at the USPTO.
Which Law Firms Filed Most US Patents for Alibaba?
| Law Firm | Total Applications | Success Rate |
| Fish & Richardson P C | 1250 | 88.87% |
| Lee & Hayes P C | 933 | 65.73% |
| Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner | 628 | 79.65% |
| Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton | 578 | 90.58% |
| Van Pelt Yi & James | 472 | 74.17% |
| Murabito Hao & Barnes | 164 | 70.23% |
| Greenberg Traurig | 160 | 67.42% |
| Alston & Bird Llp | 84 | 84.34% |
| Patent Law Works Llp | 60 | 100.00% |
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