The Walt Disney Co. is a diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise. The company was founded by Walter Elias Disney on October 16, 1923, and is headquartered in Burbank, California.
Over the years Disney has acquired or collaborated with many companies. For example, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 21st Century Fox, ESPN, Infoseek, Hulu. After its acquisition of 21st Century Fox in March 2019, Disney became the largest media powerhouse as per Forbes and Investopedia.
Below are 15 key statistics and insights on Disney’s patent portfolio. And if you like to get into a slightly more in-depth analysis on Disney patents (with fewer charts, and more text), go here: What’s inside Disney’s patent portfolio?
How many patents does Disney have?
Disney has a total of 6852 patents globally. These patents belong to 3195 unique patent families. Out of 6852 patents, 4884 patents are active.
How Many Patents did Disney 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 | Disney Applications Filed | Disney Patents Granted |
| 2024 | 70 | 202 |
| 2023 | 152 | 247 |
| 2022 | 285 | 249 |
| 2021 | 282 | 345 |
| 2020 | 325 | 416 |
| 2019 | 387 | 397 |
| 2018 | 353 | 366 |
| 2017 | 356 | 406 |
| 2016 | 332 | 347 |
| 2015 | 313 | 365 |
| 2014 | 341 | 380 |
| 2013 | 436 | 301 |
How many Disney patents are Alive/Dead?
How Many Disney Patents Earlier Belonged to Other Companies?
The chart below breaks Disney’s patent portfolio on the basis of the first owner. 27% of the patent families in Disney’s patent portfolio are acquired and aren’t originally filed by Disney.
We could see that M&A activity has helped Disney expand and diversify its technological portfolio as well.
How Many Patents did Disney File in Different Countries?
Countries in which Disney Filed Patents
| Country | Patents |
| United States of America | 4160 |
| Europe (EPO) | 644 |
| China | 294 |
| Japan | 266 |
| Germany | 168 |
| United Kingdom | 144 |
| Austria | 137 |
| Hong Kong (S.A.R.) | 129 |
| Korea (South) | 106 |
| Canada | 96 |
| Australia | 88 |
| India | 60 |
| New Zealand | 58 |
| Mexico | 45 |
| Brazil | 41 |
| Spain | 14 |
| Thailand | 8 |
| Israel | 7 |
| Taiwan | 5 |
| Singapore | 5 |
| Russian Federation | 4 |
| France | 2 |
| South Africa | 2 |
| Chile | 2 |
| Portugal | 1 |
| Netherlands | 1 |
| Italy | 1 |
| Philippines | 1 |
| Denmark | 1 |
| Norway | 1 |
| Switzerland | 1 |
| Malaysia | 1 |
What Technologies are Covered by Disney Patents?
The chart below distributes patents filed by Disney in different countries on the basis of the technology protected in patents. It also represents the markets where Disney thinks it’s important to protect particular technology inventions.
Where are Research Centers of Disney Located?
R&D Focus: How Disney Research Focus Changed Over the Years?
Which Companies are using Disney Patents to Advance their Research?
If patents or patents from a particular technology area of a company receive a lot of citations, it implies that the technology is being followed and incrementally innovated by the citing companies. It also indicates that citing companies are working on similar and closely related technologies
The top-cited technologies in the Disney patent portfolio are Media Streaming & Broadcasting, User Profile and Data Processing, and Animation. Microsoft, Sony, and Samsung as the top forward citing assignees.
| Company | Number of Patents |
| Microsoft | 181 |
| Sony | 147 |
| Samsung | 145 |
| IBM | 142 |
| 100 | |
| Apple | 87 |
| Intel | 83 |
| Adobe | 56 |
| AT&T | 53 |
| LG | 45 |
10 Best Disney Patents
US20040133923A1 is the most popular patent in the Disney portfolio. It has received 445 citations so far from companies like Oracle, Adobe and Tvworks Llc.
Below is the list of 10 most cited patents of Disney:
| Publication Number | Citation Count |
| US20040133923A1 | 445 |
| US7302272B2 | 330 |
| US8660369B2 | 313 |
| US9839844B2 | 308 |
| US20120327006A1 | 293 |
| US7412898B1 | 213 |
| US6859833B2 | 190 |
| US20100299177A1 | 175 |
| US6750919B1 | 175 |
| US20180231111A1 | 162 |
How many patent applications were rejected due to Disney patents?
Examiners at the USPTO used 1291 Disney patents in 8684 rejections (35 USC § 102 or 35 USC § 103 types). Below is the distribution of the number of blocked patent applications vs the technology cluster of Disney patents.
What Percentage of Disney US Patent Applications were Granted?
Disney (Excluding its subsidiaries) has filed 3117 patent applications at USPTO so far (Excluding Design and PCT applications). Out of these 2625 have been granted leading to a grant rate of 91.91%.
Below are the key stats of Disney patent prosecution at the USPTO.
Which Law Firms Filed Most US Patents for Disney?
| Law Firm | Total Applications | Success Rate |
| Disney Enterprises (Inhouse IP Department) | 2408 | 91.96% |
| The Walt Disney Company (Inhouse IP Department) | 115 | 86.61% |
| Esplin & Associates Pc | 196 | 94.81% |
| Disney Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton Llp | 123 | 98.37% |
| Squire Patton Boggs Llp | 66 | 96.00% |
| Mccormick Paulding & Huber Llp | 32 | 86.21% |
| Onyx Ip Group | 22 | 100.00% |
| Greenberg Traurig Llp | 16 | 100.00% |
| Perkins Coie Llp | 14 | 92.86% |
| Brian N Young Esq | 12 | 0% |
One more thing, We have converted this entire analysis in PDF form that you can download and save for later reading (or sharing with your friends). You can download it using the form below: