SoftBank Group has a total of 3485 patents globally, out of which 2009 have been granted. Of these 3485 patents, more than 41% patents are active. United States of America is where SoftBank Group has filed the maximum number of patents, followed by Europe and United Kingdom. Parallelly, Germany and United Kingdom seems to be the main focused R&D center and Japan is the origin country of SoftBank Group.
SoftBank Group was founded in 1981 by Masayoshi Son. SoftBank Group operates as a holding company, and through its subsidiary “SoftBank”, provides telecommunication services. The Company also offers microprocessor IP, sales of design software tools, and related technology services. SoftBank Group also operates investment businesses. As of March 2022, SoftBank Group has a market cap of $72.58 Billion.
Do read about some of the most popular patents of SoftBank Group which have been covered by us in this article and also you can find SoftBank Group patents information, the worldwide patent filing activity and its patent filing trend over the years, and many other stats over SoftBank Group patent portfolio.
How many patents does SoftBank Group have?
SoftBank Group has a total of 3485 patents globally. These patents belong to 1643 unique patent families. Out of 3485 patents, 1450 patents are active.
How many SoftBank Group patents are Alive/Dead?
Worldwide Patents
Patent Families
How Many Patents did SoftBank Group 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 | Soft Bank Applications Filed | Soft Bank Patents Granted |
| 2011 | 120 | 147 |
| 2012 | 64 | 196 |
| 2013 | 44 | 180 |
| 2014 | 89 | 137 |
| 2015 | 124 | 110 |
| 2016 | 76 | 111 |
| 2017 | 71 | 110 |
| 2018 | 82 | 96 |
| 2019 | 113 | 108 |
| 2020 | 38 | 103 |
| 2021 | 15 | 106 |
| 2022 | – | 10 |
How Many Patents did SoftBank Group File in Different Countries?
Countries in which SoftBank Group Filed Patents
| Country | Patents |
| United States Of America | 834 |
| Europe | 648 |
| United Kingdom | 593 |
| Germany | 456 |
| Japan | 165 |
| China | 116 |
| Spain | 110 |
| Austria | 78 |
| Korea (South) | 55 |
| Australia | 50 |
| India | 21 |
| Hong Kong (S.A.R.) | 20 |
| Taiwan | 11 |
| Finland | 8 |
| Singapore | 7 |
| Ireland | 5 |
| Canada | 5 |
| France | 3 |
| Portugal | 3 |
| South Africa | 2 |
| Sweden | 2 |
| Colombia | 1 |
| Turkey | 1 |
| Poland | 1 |
| Denmark | 1 |
| Chile | 1 |
| New Zealand | 1 |
| Peru | 1 |
| Switzerland | 1 |
| Russian Federation | 1 |
Where are Research Centers of SoftBank Group Patents Located?
10 Best SoftBank Group Patents
US6477562B2 is the most popular patent in the SoftBank Group portfolio. It has received 189 citations so far from companies like Mips Technologies Inc, Intel and Oracle International Corporation.
Below is the list of 10 most cited patents of SoftBank Group:
| Publication Number | Citation Count |
| US6477562B2 | 189 |
| US6389449B1 | 170 |
| GB2457221A | 156 |
| US20090217036A1 | 145 |
| US7020879B1 | 143 |
| US7177985B1 | 141 |
| US20070146378A1 | 133 |
| US6754804B1 | 131 |
| US7055070B1 | 123 |
| GB2481715B | 122 |
Which Companies are using SoftBank Group 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 SoftBank Group patent portfolio are IBM, Intel and Samsung.
List of the top forward citing Companies –
| Company | Number of Patents |
| IBM | 84 |
| Intel | 70 |
| Samsung Electronics | 65 |
| Ericsson | 61 |
| Qualcomm | 47 |
| Arm Holdings | 34 |
| Huawei | 32 |
| Microsoft | 28 |
| Nvidia | 20 |
| Apple | 16 |
Count of 102 and 103 Type Rejections based on SoftBank Group Patents
Top SoftBank Group Patents used in Rejecting Most Patent Applications
| Patent Number | Count of Rejected Applications |
| US20120202491A1 | 21 |
| US8064395B2 | 21 |
| US8706148B2 | 19 |
| US20090221307A1 | 18 |
| US20070146378A1 | 17 |
| US8699370B2 | 15 |
| US8543112B2 | 15 |
| US8106921B2 | 15 |
| US20110263274A1 | 14 |
| US8131941B2 | 14 |
| US8971243B2 | 13 |
| US8705743B2 | 13 |
| US6651160B1 | 13 |
| US8817758B2 | 12 |
| US8374081B2 | 12 |
What Percentage of SoftBank Group US Patent Applications were Granted?
SoftBank Group (Excluding its subsidiaries) has filed 119 patent applications at USPTO so far (Excluding Design and PCT applications). Out of these 91 have been granted leading to a grant rate of 88.35%.
Below are the key stats of SoftBank Group patent prosecution at the USPTO.
Which Law Firms Filed Most US Patents for SoftBank Group?
| Law Firm | Total Applications | Success Rate |
| Muirhead And Saturnelli Llc | 28 | 100.00% |
| Kaplan Breyer Schwarz Llp | 24 | 91.67% |
| William H Bollman | 15 | 100.00% |
| Imaizumi Ip Law Pllc | 11 | 36.36% |
| Sughrue Mion Pllc | 9 | 100.00% |
| Dla Piper Llp | 8 | 100.00% |
| Eric D Kirsch | 7 | 100.00% |
| Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie Llp | 5 | 100.00% |
| Oblon Mcclelland Maier & Neustadt | 4 | 50.00% |
| Mcdermott Will & Emery Llp | 3 | 0% |
EXCLUSIVE INSIGHTS COMING SOON!
What are BNY SoftBank Group innovation segments?
What Technologies are Covered by SoftBank Group?
The chart below distributes patents filed by SoftBank Group in different countries on the basis of the technology protected in patents. It also represents the markets where SoftBank Group thinks it’s important to protect particular technology inventions.
R&D Focus: How SoftBank Group search focus changed over the years?
EXCLUSIVE INSIGHTS COMING SOON!
Interested in knowing about the areas of innovation that are being protected by SoftBank Group?