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.
How many patents does Microsoft have?
Microsoft has a total of 77631 patents globally. These patents belong to 30704 unique patent families. Out of 77631 patents, 52140 patents are active.
How many Microsoft patents are Alive/Dead?
Worldwide Patents
How Many Patents did Microsoft 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.
How Many Patents did Microsoft File in Different Countries?
Countries in which Microsoft Filed Patents
| Country | Patents |
| United States Of America | 31450 |
| China | 8609 |
| Europe | 8078 |
| India | 3096 |
| Korea (South) | 2081 |
| Japan | 1982 |
| Canada | 1656 |
| Australia | 1375 |
| Hong Kong (S.A.R.) | 1221 |
| Brazil | 1069 |
| Taiwan | 771 |
| Russian Federation | 762 |
| Mexico | 694 |
| Israel | 271 |
| United Kingdom | 262 |
| Singapore | 240 |
| Chile | 168 |
| Spain | 162 |
| South Africa | 151 |
| Philippines | 148 |
| Argentina | 125 |
| Indonesia | 109 |
| Colombia | 107 |
| New Zealand | 32 |
| Germany | 17 |
| Malaysia | 16 |
| Norway | 5 |
| Cyprus | 5 |
| Luxembourg | 4 |
| Netherlands | 4 |
| Denmark | 4 |
| Thailand | 2 |
| Viet Nam | 1 |
| Turkey | 1 |
| Portugal | 1 |
| France | 1 |
| Poland | 1 |
What Technologies are Covered by Microsoft Patents?
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.
Where are Research Centers of Microsoft Located?
R&D Focus: How Microsoft Research Focus Changed Over the Years?
Best Microsoft Patents
US20130278631A1 is the most popular patent in the Microsoft portfolio. It has received 1050 citations so far from companies like Google, Samsung, Apple, and Artilux Inc. The patent’s geographical coverage is in major countries like United States, Europe, China, and Australia.
List of 10 Best Microsoft Patents
| Publication Number | Citation Count |
| US20130278631A1 | 1050 |
| US20110213664A1 | 949 |
| US20140063055A1 | 566 |
| US20120249797A1 | 538 |
| US20120223885A1 | 500 |
| US20110221656A1 | 437 |
| US20110214082A1 | 400 |
| US20120306850A1 | 380 |
| US8964298B2 | 365 |
| USD677326S1 | 356 |
Which Companies are using Microsoft 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 Microsoft patent portfolio are Software & Services, Operating systems (OS) & PC & devices. IBM, Samsung, and Google as the top forward citing assignees
| Company | Number of Patents |
| IBM | 2723 |
| Samsung | 1411 |
| 1293 | |
| 765 | |
| Intel | 722 |
| Apple | 713 |
| Sony | 648 |
| Amazon | 553 |
| Qualcomm | 381 |
| Sap Se | 370 |
| Oracle International Corporation | 275 |
| LG | 274 |
| Canon | 247 |
| Cisco Technology Inc | 242 |
| Vmware | 230 |
| Huawei | 218 |
| Fujitsu | 218 |
| Salesforce | 211 |
| Adobe Inc | 204 |
| Hewlett Packard | 170 |
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. They couldn’t because Microsoft had protected those before them.
Examiners at the USPTO used 11797 Microsoft patents in 69950 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 Microsoft patents.
Count of 102 and 103 Type Rejections based on Microsoft Patents
Top Microsoft Patents used in Rejecting Most Patent Applications
| Patent Number | Count of Rejected Applications |
| US8964298B2 | 126 |
| US20130278631A1 | 126 |
| US9128281B2 | 84 |
| US20140063055A1 | 77 |
| US20110213664A1 | 74 |
| US9082235B2 | 66 |
| US9342610B2 | 57 |
| US9122053B2 | 48 |
| US20130083003A1 | 46 |
| US20130147686A1 | 46 |
| US10019962B2 | 46 |
| US9143601B2 | 45 |
| US20110221656A1 | 45 |
| US9183676B2 | 44 |
| US9244545B2 | 43 |
| US8477425B2 | 43 |
| US9823742B2 | 41 |
| US20110214082A1 | 40 |
| US9323325B2 | 39 |
| US8762360B2 | 37 |
What Percentage of Microsoft US Patent Applications were Granted?
Microsoft (Excluding its subsidiaries) has filed 63491 patent applications at USPTO so far (Excluding Design and PCT applications). Out of these 45896 have been granted leading to a grant rate of 78.62%.
Below are the key stats of Microsoft patent prosecution at the USPTO.
Which Law Firms Filed Most US Patents for Microsoft?
| Law Firm | Total Applications | Success Rate |
| Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc | 45877 | 81.32% |
| Lee & Hayes | 4040 | 71.18% |
| Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner | 1887 | 59.43% |
| Perkins Coie Llp | 910 | 78.33% |
| Workman Nydegger | 879 | 77.01% |
| Amin Turocy & Watson | 817 | 94.15% |
| Merchant & Gould | 550 | 64.04% |
| Hickman Becker Bingham Ledesma | 505 | 74.94% |
| Westman Champlin | 499 | 75.10% |
| Newport Ip | 357 | 48.82% |
Technology Analysis By: Navjyot Singh, Insights;Gate Team