Elon Musk
CEO Tesla
South Africa
Elon Musk’s portfolio has 25 patents that belong to 8 unique patent families. His patents belong to Vehicle Design, Autonomous Vehicles, Geospatial Technology etc.
| Total Patents | 25 |
| Granted Patents | 10 |
| Associated Companies | SpaceX, Tesla, Twitter, The Boring Company, OpenAI, Neuralink |
| Field of Invention | Autonomous Software & Technology |
How many patents does other industry leaders have
Engineer of SpaceX, as well as an early phase investor, CEO, and Product Architect for Tesla, the founder of The Boring Company, and a co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI. He was named CEO of PayPal. As of May 2022, Elon Musk is the richest person in the world with a net worth of $265.4 billion.
Do read about some of the most popular patents of Elon Musk which have been covered by us in this article and also you can find Elon Musk patents information, the worldwide patent filing activity and its patent filing trend over the years, and many other stats over Elon Musk patent portfolio.
Key Patents of Elon Musk
| SR No | Publication Number | Title | First Filing Year | Tech Area |
| 1 | US5944769A | Interactive Network Directory…. | 1996 | Geospatial Technology |
| 2 | US6148260A | Interactive Network Directory…. | 1996 | Geospatial Technology |
| 3 | US6185194B1 | System And Method For…. | 1997 | Telecommunication |
| 4 | US6108650A | Method And Apparatus For…. | 1998 | Data Processing Application |
| 5 | US20020018236A1 | Bi-Directional Facsimile…. | 1997 | Telecommunication |
How many patents does Elon Musk have?
Elon Musk has a total of 25 patents globally. These patents belong to 8 unique patent families. Out of 25 patents, 13 patents are active.
How Many Patents did Elon Musk 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 | Elon Musk Applications Filed | Elon Musk Patents Granted |
| 2024 | – | 1 |
| 2023 | 1 | 1 |
| 2022 | 1 | – |
| 2021 | – | – |
| 2020 | 9 | – |
| 2019 | 1 | – |
| 2018 | – | – |
| 2017 | – | – |
| 2016 | – | – |
| 2015 | – | 1 |
| 2014 | – | – |
How many Elon Musk patents are Alive/Dead?
How Many Patents did Elon Musk File in Different Countries?
Where are Research Centres of Elon Musk Patents Located?
The R&D Centres of all patents filed by Elon Musk are in the USA.
Let’s dig in at some of the patents filed by Musk!
We have covered about his ventures in details, If you are curious to know more you can read Tesla and SpaceX blog.
Design patents filed by Musk are particularly related to the artistic design of a car and its charging port like the patent “USD724031S1” talks about a vehicle charge inlet”.
The Autonomous Vehicle patent (US12164310B2) is about self-driving cars using AI to navigate on their own. A user selects a target location remotely. The car uses sensors (like cameras & radar) to “see” its surroundings. AI creates a map of the environment and plans the best path. The car follows this path, adjusting in real time based on new sensor data. This is similar to Tesla’s Smart Summon, where a car drives itself to a selected location.
US6148260A this patent talks Geospatial Technology which is about an online service that combines business searches with maps. Users can search for businesses and get directions in one place. The system uses maps and GPS data to help find the best route. Directions are sent separately from the map so they load faster. A special method helps maps work smoothly in online applications (like Java). This is similar to how Google Maps or Yelp lets you search for places and get directions easily.
The chart below distributes patents filed by Elon Musk in different countries on the basis of the technology protected in patents. It also represents the markets where Elon Musk thinks it’s important to protect particular technology inventions.
R&D Focus: How Elon Musk Research Focus Changed Over the Years?
10 Best Elon Musk Patents
US5944769A is the most popular patent in the Elon Musk’s portfolio. It has received 209 citations so far from companies like Google, Verizon Data Services, and Microsoft.
Below is the list of 10 most cited patents of Elon Musk:
| Publication Number | Citation Count |
| US5944769A | 209 |
| US6148260A | 202 |
| US6185194B1 | 160 |
| US6108650A | 115 |
| US20020018236A1 | 13 |
| USD683268S1 | 13 |
| USD678154S1 | 12 |
| US8579635B2 | 9 |
| WO2020167613A1 | 4 |
| USD724031S1 | 4 |
How many inventions of other companies were rejected due to Elon Musk’s patents?
The statistics below share strategic R&D insights. It tells the companies that were trying to protect inventions similar to Elon Musk’s invention. They couldn’t because Elon Musk had protected those before them.
Examiners at the USPTO referred 5 Elon Musk patents in 57 rejections (35 USC § 102 or 35 USC § 103 types).
The top citing companies in the Elon Musk patent portfolio are Ford, Wilmington Savings Fund Society, and Google.
List of the Companies whose Patents were rejected citing Elon Musk –
| Company | Number of Patent Applications that faced Rejection Citing Elon Musk Patents | Number of Rejections (102 & 103) |
| Ford Global Technologies | 2 | 2 |
| Wilmington Savings Fund Society | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | 5 | |
| Microsoft | 1 | 5 |
| Amazon | 1 | 4 |
| Celeritasworks Llc | 1 | 1 |
| Quasar Acquisition Llc | 1 | 5 |
| Robert Bosch | 1 | 6 |
| Telecommunication Systems Inc | 1 | 5 |
| Toyota | 1 | 1 |
Count of 102 and 103 Type Rejections based on Elon Musk Patents
Top Elon Musk Patents used in Rejecting Most Patent Applications
| Patent Number | Count of Rejected Applications |
| US6185194B1 | 5 |
| US6108650A | 4 |
| US11567514B2 | 3 |
| US5944769A | 2 |
| US8579635B2 | 1 |
List of Elon Musk Patents
| Elon Musk Patents | Title |
| US12164310B2 | Autonomous And User Controlled Vehicle Summon To A Target |
| US11567514B2 | Autonomous And User Controlled Vehicle Summon To A Target |
| USD724031S1 | Vehicle Charge Inlet |
| US8579635B2 | Funnel Shaped Charge Inlet |
| USD683268S1 | Vehicle |
| USD678154S1 | Vehicle Door |
| EP3924692A1 | Autonomous And User Controlled Vehicle Summon To A Target |
| CN113728210A | Autonomous And User Controlled Vehicle Summon To A Target |
| HK40064755A | Autonomous And User Controlled Vehicle Summon To A Target |
| SG11202108732SA | Autonomous And User Controlled Vehicle Summon To A Target |
| AU2020221897A1 | Autonomous And User Controlled Vehicle Summon To A Target |
| CA3129725A1 | Autonomous And User Controlled Vehicle Summon To A Target |
| KR1020210121161A | Autonomous And User-Controlled Vehicle Calls To Cross-Reference Targets For Related Applications |
| US6185194B1 | System And Method For Initiating A Telephone Call Utilizing Internet Initiation |
| US6148260A | Interactive Network Directory Service With Integrated Maps And Directions |
| US6108650A | Method And Apparatus For An Accelerated Radius Search |
| US5944769A | Interactive Network Directory Service With Integrated Maps And Directions |
| US20020018236A1 | Bi-Directional Facsimile Mechanism Using The Internet |
| EP1105695A1 | Method And Apparatus For An Accelerated Radius Search |
| WO2020167613A1 | Autonomous And User Controlled Vehicle Summon To A Target |
| WO2000011435A1 | Method And Apparatus For An Accelerated Radius Search |
| AU1999052370A1 | Method And Apparatus For An Accelerated Radius Search |
| CA2341415A1 | Method And Apparatus For An Accelerated Radius Search |
| IL285462A0 | Autonomous and user controlled vehicle summon to a target |
| JP2022519710A | Autonomous and user-controlled vehicle call to target |