How many patents Steve Jobs own? – Steve Jobs Patent Portfolio

Steve Jobs

Founder of Apple
United States

Steve Jobs has a total of 1114 patents globally, out of which 960 have been granted. Of these 1114 patents that he has filed, more than 53% patents are active. The USA is where Steve Jobs has filed the maximum number of patents, followed by Australia and Taiwan.

He was Apple’s co-founder, chairman, and CEO; Pixar’s chairman and majority shareholder; a member of The Walt Disney Company’s board of directors after Pixar was acquired; and the founder, chairman, and CEO of NeXT. Steve Jobs cofounded Apple in his parents’ basement in 1976 and grew it into the world’s most valuable corporation by the time he died in October 2011.

Over the years, Steve and Apple had more successes than any other innovative firm: the iMac, iPod, iPod nano, iTunes Store, Apple Stores, MacBook, iPhone, iPad, App Store, OS X Lion, and every Pixar film.

Apple didn’t simply disrupt tablets, phones, MP3 players, or computers; Steve Jobs has 2 “staircase” patents filed under his name! Yes, you read that right. USD478999S1, this patent describes a glass staircase. A visit to one of Apple’s major facilities will allow you to walk on one of Steve’s most famous concepts.

Total Patents
1114
Granted Patents
960
Associated Companies
Apple, NeXT
Field of Invention
Electronic and Communications

How many patents does other industry leaders have

Key patents of Steve Jobs?

S. No.
Publication Number
Title
First Filing Year
Tech Area
1
Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics
2006
Gesture
2
Electronic Device
2004
Mobile & Tablet
3
Electronic Device
2007
Mobile & Tablet
4
User Interface For Presenting Media Information
1999
User Interfaces
5
Electronic Device
2007
Mobile & Tablet

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

How many patents does Steve Jobs have?

Steve Jobs has a total of 1114 patents globally. These patents belong to 207 unique patent families. Out of 1114 patents, 585 patents are active.

How Many Patents did Steve Jobs 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 Steve Jobs Applications Filed Steve Jobs Patents Granted
2023 9
2022 3 10
2021 10 24
2020 14 13
2019 13 17
2018 11 18
2017 8 7
2016 25 28
2015 7 25
2014 25 45
2013 35 59
2012 46 65
2011 64 83

How many Steve Jobs patents are Alive/Dead?

How Many Patents did Steve Jobs File in Different Countries?

Countries in which Steve Jobs Filed Patents

Country Patents
United States Of America 604
Australia 168
Taiwan 83
Europe 64
Korea (South) 21
Hong Kong (S.A.R.) 18
Germany 16
Brazil 15
Austria 13
China 12
Mexico 11
Canada 8
Japan 7
Malaysia 7
United Arab Emirates 4
Switzerland 3
Viet Nam 3
Chile 2
Colombia 2
Croatia 2
Turkey 2
Norway 2
Singapore 1
Italy 1
Spain 1
Philippines 1
Indonesia 1
Poland 1

Where are Research Centers of Steve Jobs Patents Located?

10 Best Steve Jobs Patents

US7479949B2 is the most popular patent in the Steve Jobs portfolio. It has received 2102 citations so far from companies like Microsoft, Google, IGT, Nokia, and LG.

Below is the list of 10 most cited patents of Steve Jobs:

Publication Number Citation Count
US7479949B2 2102
USD504889S1 901
USD602014S1 605
US6262724B1 578
USD558756S1 510
USD602015S1 493
USD558757S1 481
USD619361S1 467
USD580387S1 441
USD642563S1 432

Steve influenced seven industries along the way: personal computing, animated films, music, phones, tablet computing, retail outlets, and digital publishing. Along with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Walt Disney, he belongs in the list of America’s great innovators.

Let’s talk about some geeky tech stuff!

Not every Steve Jobs patent talks about an Apple computer. A cursor control device is described in the USD686210S1 patent. But it is not just any mouse.

When Jobs viewed the ideas for a computer with a graphical user interface and a mouse at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center, he set about making the design more logical (his team allowed the user to drag and drop documents and folders on a virtual desktop) and simpler. The Xerox mouse had three buttons and so Jobs went to a local industrial design firm and told one of its founders, Dean Hovey, that he needed a simple, single-buttoned model of the mouse. And here it was!

The iPod

The iPod was widely regarded as the first user-friendly and innovative means of accessing music on the go when it was released in 2001. Prior to the widespread availability of mp3 files, consumers relied on portable radios, CD players, and tape players for remote audio. The iPod, which synced with Apple’s iTunes service, allowed users to store and purchase hundreds of music on a single device.

USD472245S1, this patent talks about the design of the device, named as “Media Player”.

The iPhone

The iPhone was Jobs’ next major product introduction. The iPhone combined the functions of an iPod with those of a phone and a computer, allowing users to make calls, listen to music, and surf the Internet all on one touchscreen device. Aside from synchronisation with iTunes, the iPhone had its own App Store, which allowed consumers to avoid purchasing content from wireless providers.

USD602014S1, this patent describes the design of an iPhone.

The iPad

Apple and Jobs then produced the first touchscreen tablet without a keyboard, drawing inspiration from the iPhone. The iPad, a hybrid of a laptop and an iPhone, sparked the growth of a new market into which other technological companies have subsequently entered.

“Packaging”

Mike Markkula, Jobs’ early mentor, issued him a memo in 1979 urging him to follow three principles. “Empathy” and “concentration” were the first two, while “impute,” a strange word, became one of Jobs’ key philosophies. People build opinions about a product or a company based on how it is presented and packaged, he knew. 

And so, USD635455S1 patent describes packaging. Yes, Steve Jobs also has this patented under his name!

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

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

Examiners at the USPTO referred 91 Steve Jobs patents in 2590 rejections (35 USC § 102 or 35 USC § 103 types).

The top citing companies in the Steve Jobs patent portfolio are Samsung, LG, and Microsoft.

List of the Companies whose Patents were rejected citing Steve Jobs –

Company Number of Patent Applications that faced Rejection Citing Steve Jobs Patents Number of Rejections (102 & 103)
Samsung 124 335
LG Electronics 70 149
Microsoft 69 188
Blackberry Limited 61 155
Sony Corporation 53 142
Google 51 93
Nokia 27 82
Huawei 21 49
Htc 17 51
IBM 17 39

Count of 102 and 103 Type Rejections based on Steve Jobs Patents

Top Steve Jobs Patents used in Rejecting Most Patent Applications

Patent Number Count of Rejected Applications
US8564544B2 216
US7479949B2 206
US11126321B2 47
US8619038B2 34
US7890778B2 30
US20080055263A1 29
US20070150830A1 28
US8519964B2 27
US9477395B2 26
US8504937B2 25
US20050289468A1 22
US7574672B2 21
US7526738B2 20
US8689254B2 14
US9001047B2 14

Related Articles

Shunpei Yamazaki Patents – Insights and Stats (Updated 2024)

Shunpei Yamazaki is a pioneering Japanese inventor who created the basic device for flash memory while studying at Doshisha University in 1970. His ground-breaking work in non-volatile memory technology laid the foundation for many modern electronics. After earning his Ph.D. in Engineering, Yamazaki founded Semiconductor Energy Laboratory in 1980, where

Read More »

Was this article helpful?

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.