Microsoft Patents – Key Insights and Statistics

Microsoft: “Be what’s next” is an American multinational computer technology corporation founded in the year 1975. Formed by Harvard College dropout, Bill Gates and his childhood friend Paul Allen, Microsoft has now become the biggest and one of the most valuable software companies. Its innovation focus, ranging from operating systems, security, productivity, and cloud computing to emerging technologies like AI, mixed reality, and quantum computing. You can find Microsoft’s patents information, the worldwide patent filing activity and its patent filing trend over the years, and many other stats over Microsoft’s patent portfolio.

Satya Nadella is the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014 as CEO and John W. Thompson in 2021 as chairman. You can also read our analysis on, Satya Nadella’s Patents and Inventions.

Microsoft’s Innovations across Technologies in Last 5 Years

TechnologyNo. Of Patents
Cloud Computing And Services1701
Networking And Connectivity Solutions1353
Cybersecurity And Privacy1033
UI And UX775
Image Processing And Computer Vision668
Augmented And Virtual Reality489
Speech And Natural Language Processing403
Database Management Systems315
Hardware Accelerators236
Advancements In Training Neural Networks172
Gaming113
Quantum Computing94
Bendable Or Foldable Devices84
Blockchain And Distributed Ledger80
E-Commerce Solutions54

Microsoft has a total of 107170 patents globally, out of which 53545 have been granted. Of these 107170 patents, more than 65% patents are active. United States of America is where Microsoft has filed the maximum number of patents, followed by Europe (EPO) and China. Parallelly, United States of America seems to be the main focused R&D centre and also is the origin country of Microsoft.

Do read about some of the most popular patents of Microsoft which have been covered by us in this article and also you can find Microsoft patents information, the worldwide patent filing activity and its patent filing trend over the years, and many other stats over Microsoft patent portfolio.

How many patents does Microsoft have?

Microsoft has a total of 107170 patents globally. These patents belong to 42697 unique patent families. Out of 107170 patents, 70676 patents are active.

How Many Patents did Microsoft File Every Year?

Microsoft Patent Filing Trend

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 GrantMicrosoft Applications FiledMicrosoft Patents Granted
202497833
202319102849
202257374356
202153294891
202059954425
201969444264
201861713067
201771393378
201668765422
201589343985
201477825166
201374003642

How many Microsoft patents are Alive/Dead?

Microsoft Patent Portfolio

How Many Patents did Microsoft File in Different Countries?

Microsoft Worldwide Patent Filing

Countries in which Microsoft Filed Patents

CountryPatents
United States of America39771
Europe (EPO)11999
China11218
Germany4455
Japan4264
India4151
Korea (South)3618
Canada1994
Brazil1916
Australia1461
Taiwan1293
Russian Federation1276
Mexico1158
Hong Kong (S.A.R.)1133
United Kingdom623
South Africa520
Singapore436
Malaysia385
Israel367
Austria305
Indonesia282
Spain267
Philippines180
Thailand165
Chile154
Argentina122
New Zealand114
Netherlands84
Colombia77
Luxembourg67
Italy65
Norway58
Viet Nam51
Denmark30
Portugal15
Egypt15
Poland15
Slovenia5
France2
Finland2
Cyprus1
Turkey1
Romania1
Serbia1
Lithuania1
Croatia1
Hungary1

What Technologies are Covered by Microsoft Patents?

Microsoft Technology Area

The chart below distributes patents filed by Microsoft in different countries on the basis of the technology protected in patents. It also represents the markets where Microsoft thinks it’s important to protect particular technology inventions.

Microsoft Technology Protected in different countries

Where are Research Centers of Microsoft Located?

Microsoft Patent R&D Center

R&D FocusHow Microsoft Research Focus Changed Over the Years?

Microsoft R&D focus

Where are Research Centres of Microsoft Patents Located?

R&D Centers of Microsoft

10 Best Microsoft Patents

US20110213664A1 is the most popular patent in the Microsoft portfolio. It has received 1171 citations so far from companies like Thales, Samsung and Google.

Below is the list of 10 most cited patents of Microsoft:

Publication NumberCitation Count
US20110213664A11171
US20120127062A1761
US20140063055A1734
US20120249797A1650
US20110201387A1638
US20120113223A1614
US20120223885A1596
US20120127284A1594
USD650789S1587
US20110221656A1542

How many inventions of other companies were rejected due to Microsoft patents?

The statistics below share strategic R&D insights. It tells the companies that were trying to protect inventions similar to Microsoft invention. They couldn’t because Microsoft had protected those before them.

Examiners at the USPTO referred 17541 Microsoft patents in 126750 rejections (35 USC § 102 or 35 USC § 103 types).

The top citing companies in the Microsoft patent portfolio are IBM, Google and Samsung.

List of the Companies whose Patents were rejected citing Microsoft –

CompanyNumber of Patent Applications that faced Rejection Citing Microsoft PatentsNumber of Rejections (102 & 103)
IBM42349770
Google26065849
Samsung24896541
Apple13823232
Sony12173251
Intel11142507
Meta10742619
Amazon9742259
Qualcomm7281787
Sap Se6311396

Count of 102 and 103 Type Rejections based on Microsoft Patents

Top Microsoft Patents used in Rejecting Most Patent Applications

Patent NumberCount of Rejected Applications
US8964298B2133
US8010460B297
US8745541B278
US20110213664A178
US20140063055A175
US20130050258A162
US20120127284A159
US20120206452A154
US8659658B252
US8467991B251
US20130147686A150
US20110221656A149
US8670018B248
US20120105473A148
US9183676B247

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:

Related Articles

Monetago Patents – Insights and Stats (Updated 2024)

Monetago has a total of 10 patents globally, out of which none have been granted. Of these 10 patents, all the patents are inactive. The United States of America is where Monetago has filed all their patents. Parallelly, United States of America seems to be the main focused R&D centre

Read More »

Leave a Comment

Fill the form to get the details:

Fill the form to get the details:

Our comprehensive report provides an in-depth look into the patent portfolio. The report includes a breakdown of the patent portfolio across various technologies, listing the patent along with brief summaries of each patent's technology.