Nikon has a total of 48239 patents globally, out of which 20069 have been granted. Of these 48239 patents, more than 62% patents are active. Japan is where Nikon has filed the maximum number of patents, followed by USA and China and it also seems reasonable as the biggest market for Nikon is Japan & USA. Parallelly, Japan seems to be the main focused R&D center and is also the origin country of Nikon.
Nikon was founded in 1917 by Koyata Iwasaki. Nikon doing business as a consumer electronics company. The company offers wide range of products on cameras, telescope, microscopes, riflescopes, ophthalmic lenses and instrumental products, etc. As of December 2021, Nikon has a market cap of $3.80 Billion.
Do read about some of the most popular patents of Nikon which have been covered by us in this article and also you can find Nikon’s patents information, the worldwide patent filing activity and its patent filing trend over the years, and many other stats over Nikon’s patent portfolio.
How many patents does Nikon have?
Nikon has a total of 48239 patents globally. These patents belong to 27582 unique patent families. Out of 48239 patents, 30084 patents are active.
How many Nikon patents are Alive/Dead?
Worldwide Patents
Patent Families
How Many Patents did Nikon 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 | Nikon Applications Filed | Nikon Patents Granted |
| 2011 | 2909 | 1342 |
| 2012 | 3024 | 1804 |
| 2013 | 2763 | 2436 |
| 2014 | 1624 | 2270 |
| 2015 | 1338 | 1418 |
| 2016 | 1549 | 1506 |
| 2017 | 1748 | 1373 |
| 2018 | 1731 | 1359 |
| 2019 | 1287 | 1279 |
| 2020 | 654 | 1084 |
| 2021 | 216 | 866 |
How Many Patents did Nikon File in Different Countries?
Countries in which Nikon Filed Patents
| Country | Patents |
| Japan | 26199 |
| United States Of America | 6683 |
| China | 2713 |
| Europe | 2067 |
| Korea (South) | 2033 |
| Taiwan | 1974 |
| Hong Kong (S.A.R.) | 772 |
| India | 362 |
| Singapore | 329 |
| Australia | 326 |
| Germany | 183 |
| Austria | 105 |
| United Kingdom | 90 |
| Canada | 76 |
| Israel | 75 |
| Brazil | 44 |
| Russian Federation | 31 |
| Denmark | 23 |
| Spain | 23 |
| Mexico | 10 |
| Indonesia | 8 |
| South Africa | 8 |
| Italy | 7 |
| Thailand | 5 |
| Poland | 4 |
| Portugal | 4 |
| Turkey | 3 |
| Malaysia | 3 |
| Viet Nam | 2 |
| Belgium | 1 |
| Estonia | 1 |
| Ukraine | 1 |
| New Zealand | 1 |
| Netherlands | 1 |
| Eurasian Patent Organization | 1 |
| Cyprus | 1 |
| Colombia | 1 |
| France | 1 |
Where are Research Centers of Nikon Patents Located?
10 Best Nikon Patents
US6626834B2 is the most popular patent in the Nikon portfolio. It has received 986 citations so far from companies like Ethicon Llc, C. R. Bard and Cilag Gmbh.
Below is the list of 10 most cited patents of Nikon:
| Publication Number | Count of Citing Patents |
| US6626834B2 | 986 |
| US20020041377A1 | 741 |
| US6600547B2 | 710 |
| US20050153424A1 | 552 |
| WO2004053951A1 | 544 |
| WO2004053957A1 | 529 |
| US6811953B2 | 460 |
| JP2003249443A | 336 |
| US20070070859A1 | 276 |
| US6633364B2 | 270 |
Which Companies are using Nikon 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 citing companies in the Nikon patent portfolio are Canon, Asml Netherlands Bv and Samsung.
List of the top forward citing Companies –
| Company | Number of Patents |
| Canon | 740 |
| Asml Netherlands Bv | 444 |
| Samsung | 268 |
| Sony | 262 |
| Carl Zeiss Smt | 236 |
| Olympus Corporation | 152 |
| Fujifilm | 83 |
| Epson | 65 |
| Tsmc | 64 |
| Toshiba | 52 |
Count of 102 and 103 Type Rejections based on Nikon Patents
Top Nikon Patents used in Rejecting Most Patent Applications
| Patent Number | Count of Rejected Applications |
| US7395606B2 | 53 |
| US7379890B2 | 33 |
| US7161621B2 | 25 |
| US20120311462A1 | 24 |
| US7542012B2 | 23 |
| US20040207743A1 | 23 |
| US7388649B2 | 22 |
| US20120290977A1 | 22 |
| US20070070859A1 | 22 |
| US8466998B2 | 21 |
| US8488847B2 | 21 |
| US8928795B2 | 20 |
| US7990429B2 | 20 |
| US7732744B2 | 18 |
| US7591078B2 | 18 |
What Percentage of Nikon US Patent Applications were Granted?
Nikon (Excluding its subsidiaries) has filed 8363 patent applications at USPTO so far (Excluding Design and PCT applications). Out of these 5951 have been granted leading to a grant rate of 73.69%.
Below are the key stats of Nikon patent prosecution at the USPTO.
Which Law Firms Filed Most US Patents for Nikon?
| Law Firm | Total Applications | Success Rate |
| Oliff Plc | 2914 | 71.16% |
| Shapiro And Shapiro | 1253 | 73.25% |
| Staas & Halsey | 730 | 67.79% |
| Sgpatents | 534 | 86.40% |
| Klarquist Sparkman | 391 | 76.33% |
| Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner | 231 | 74.09% |
| Venable Llp | 199 | 98.49% |
| Roeder & Broder | 150 | 68.92% |
| Morgan Lewis & Bockius | 133 | 81.95% |
| Oblon Mcclelland Maier & Neustadt | 96 | 63.44% |
Nikon is at the forefront of developing cutting-edge photography equipment. Nikon is committed to advancing R&D and technological innovation in order to assure the development of novel manufacturing technologies and new solutions to a variety of problems. Also, to emphasise Nikon’s opto-electronics and precision technologies’ strong technical capabilities and corporate value.
It is critical to continue basic R&D efforts with a long-term vision in order to improve Nikon’s present companies and build new ones. Nikon conducts research and development in a wide range of technologies, including optics, precise measurement and production, image processing, materials, software and systems, and opto-electronics and precision technologies.
EXCLUSIVE INSIGHTS COMING SOON!
What are Nikon’s key innovation segments?
What Technologies are Covered by Nikon?
The chart below distributes patents filed by Nikon in different countries on the basis of the technology protected in patents. It also represents the markets where Nikon thinks it’s important to protect particular technology inventions.
R&D Focus: How Nikon search focus changed over the years?
EXCLUSIVE INSIGHTS COMING SOON!
Interested in knowing about the areas of innovation that are being protected by Nikon?