Pixar has a total of 507 patents globally, out of which 390 have been granted. Of these 507 patents, more than 67% patents are active. The USA is where Pixar has filed the maximum number of patents, followed by European Countries and New Zealand, it has generated an annual revenue of $134.2 million in the year 2021. Parallelly, the USA seems to be the main focused R&D center of Pixar.
Pixar was founded in the year 1986 by Edwin Catmull & Alvy Ray Smith. Pixar is a computer animation studio based in California that is best recognised for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is situated in Emeryville, California, and is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company’s Walt Disney Studios.
Do read about some of the most popular patents of Pixar which have been covered by us in this article and also you can find Pixar patents information, the worldwide patent filing activity and its patent filing trend over the years, and many other stats over Pixar patent portfolio.
How many patents does the founders of Pixar have?
The founder, Edwin Catmull & Alvy Ray Smith, have 1 and 4 patents respectively.
How many patents does Pixar have?
Pixar has a total of 507 patents globally. These patents belong to 261 unique patent families. Out of 507 patents, 344 patents are active.
How Many Patents did Pixar 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 | Pixar Applications Filed | Pixar Patents Granted |
| 2011 | 35 | 40 |
| 2012 | 8 | 40 |
| 2013 | 25 | 41 |
| 2014 | 14 | 31 |
| 2015 | 8 | 21 |
| 2016 | 9 | 26 |
| 2017 | 8 | 28 |
| 2018 | 11 | 9 |
| 2019 | 5 | 18 |
| 2020 | 2 | 15 |
| 2021 | – | 2 |
| 2022 | – | – |
How many Pixar patents are Alive/Dead?
How Many Patents did Pixar File in Different Countries?
Where are Research Centres of Pixar Patents Located?
Of all the 261 R&D Centres, all of them are located in USA.
10 Best Pixar Patents
US6608631B1 is the most popular patent in the Pixar portfolio. It has received 177 citations so far from companies like Sony, Philips, and Adobe.
Below is the list of 10 most cited patents of Pixar:
| Publication Number | Citation Count |
| US6608631B1 | 177 |
| US6707452B1 | 110 |
| US6760024B1 | 77 |
| US20070262988A1 | 58 |
| USRE42287E1 | 57 |
| US20050248573A1 | 53 |
| US20040227761A1 | 48 |
| US8799821B1 | 44 |
| US8493383B1 | 41 |
| US8269778B1 | 38 |
Which Companies are using Pixar 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 Pixar patent portfolio are Microsoft , Haier, and Disney.
List of the top forward citing Companies –
| Company | Number of Patents |
| Microsoft | 21 |
| Sony | 15 |
| Disney | 14 |
| Intel | 13 |
| Samsung | 10 |
| Apple | 9 |
| Nvidia | 7 |
| Dreamworks Animation | 7 |
| Adobe | 7 |
| 5 |
Do read our analysis on What’s Inside Disney Patent Portfolio?
Count of 102 and 103 Type Rejections based on Pixar Patents
Top Pixar Patents used in Rejecting Most Patent Applications
| Patent Number | Count of Rejected Applications |
| US9208610B2 | 9 |
| US7565625B2 | 8 |
| US7324069B2 | 7 |
| US7516158B2 | 6 |
| US7969433B2 | 6 |
| US6760024B1 | 5 |
| US8478064B2 | 5 |
| US7515155B2 | 5 |
| US7348977B2 | 5 |
| US10607319B2 | 4 |
| US7233328B2 | 4 |
| US8654121B1 | 4 |
| US10311552B2 | 4 |
| US8219637B2 | 4 |
| US20070262988A1 | 4 |
You might also want to read our analysis on Disney Patents – Key Insights and Stats
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What are Pixar’s key innovation segments?