We studied the patent reassignment activities by the Universities in the US between 2018-20. A total of 5201 patents were transferred by various universities and research institutes to 684 different assignees and 145 groups of individual inventors.
Most of the university/research institutes transferred their patent rights to federal agencies. The share of federal agencies in university patent reassignment is more than 65% where NIH alone is part of more than 36% of reassignments.
Top 50 University/Research Institutes with Most Patent Transfers
| University/Research Institute | No. of Patents |
|---|---|
| Johns Hopkins University | 210 |
| University Of California | 200 |
| University Of Pennsylvania | 125 |
| Massachusetts Institute Of Technology | 121 |
| University Of Utah | 109 |
| Duke University | 105 |
| University Of Colorado | 101 |
| University Of Michigan | 93 |
| Ohio State University | 85 |
| Arizona State University | 85 |
| Harvard University | 69 |
| State University Of New York | 67 |
| University Of Wisconsin Madison | 67 |
| California Institute Of Technology | 62 |
| University Of New Mexico | 58 |
| University Of Virginia | 58 |
| University Of Alabama At Birmingham | 56 |
| The Feinstein Institute For Medical Research | 53 |
| University Of Pittsburgh | 53 |
| Georgia Institute Of Technology | 51 |
| Cornell University | 51 |
| Vanderbilt University | 49 |
| Battelle Memorial Institute | 45 |
| University Of Washington | 42 |
| Howard Hughes Medical Institute | 42 |
| University Of Texas Medical Anderson Cancer Center | 39 |
| Emory University | 38 |
| Yale University | 37 |
| University Of Florida | 36 |
| University Of Illinois | 36 |
| Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute | 35 |
| Augusta University | 35 |
| Purdue University | 34 |
| Texas A&M University System | 33 |
| Industrial Technology Research Institute | 33 |
| Indiana University | 33 |
| Washington University | 32 |
| Columbia University | 31 |
| The University Of Chicago | 30 |
| University Of Rochester | 30 |
| University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill | 30 |
| Scripps Research Institute | 29 |
| University Of Arizona | 28 |
| University Of Notre Dame | 28 |
| Institute Of Virology Of The Slovak Academy Of Sciences | 28 |
| University Industry Foundation Yonsei University | 26 |
| Case Western Reserve University | 26 |
| Princeton University | 25 |
| Wayne State University | 25 |
| University Of South Florida | 25 |
| Boston University | 25 |
Year-wise Patent Transfer by the Top 5 Universities/Research Institutes
The number of patents transactions by universities/research institutes has shown a declining trend over the year. In 2020, there were 688 patent reassignments by universities in the US which is 73.6% less than in 2018.
| Year | No. of Patent |
| 2018 | 2615 |
| 2019 | 1898 |
| 2020 | 688 |
The table below provides details of number of patent reassignment deals by the top 5 universities/research institutes.
| Year | Johns Hopkins | University Of California | University Of Pennsylvania | MIT | University Of Utah |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 93 | 107 | 85 | 76 | 39 |
| 2019 | 87 | 63 | 23 | 40 | 63 |
| 2020 | 30 | 30 | 17 | 5 | 7 |
Assignees of the Top 3 Universities/Research Institutes Patents
Johns Hopkins University (210 Patents)
| Assignee | Patent Count |
|---|---|
| NIH | 178 |
| National Science Foundation | 19 |
| United States Department Of The Navy | 4 |
| United States Department Of Energy | 4 |
| United States Department Of The Army | 2 |
| Midiagnostics Nv | 1 |
| Mrdc | 1 |
| United States Department Of The Air Force | 1 |
University of California (200 Patents)
| Assignee | Patent Count |
|---|---|
| NIH | 85 |
| United States Department Of Energy | 52 |
| National Science Foundation | 30 |
| United States Department Of Veterans Affairs | University Of California | 10 |
| United States Department Of The Army | 9 |
| United States Department Of Veterans Affairs | 5 |
| Individual Inventors | 3 |
| United States Department Of The Navy | 3 |
| King Abdulaziz City For Science And Technology | University Of California | 1 |
| Youhealth Biotech Limited | 1 |
| California Institute Of Technology | 1 |
University Of Pennsylvania (125 Patents)
| Assignee | Patent Count |
|---|---|
| NIH | 101 |
| National Science Foundation | 16 |
| United States Department Of Energy | 5 |
| Novartis | University Of Pennsylvania | 2 |
| Agios Pharmaceuticals | 1 |
Top 50 Organizations that purchased/licensed university/research institutes patents
The table below provides detail of the top 50 organizations that get patent rights transferred from various universities/research institutes in the US.
| Assignees | Patents |
|---|---|
| NIH | 1914 |
| National Science Foundation | 858 |
| United States Department Of Energy | 344 |
| Independent Inventor | 145 |
| United States Department Of The Navy | 54 |
| The Feinstein Institute For Medical Research | 53 |
| United States Department Of The Army | 52 |
| NASA | 45 |
| STC UNM | 43 |
| United States Department Of Veterans Affairs | 38 |
| Technion Research & Development Foundation Limited | 23 |
| Defense Threat Reduction Agency | 23 |
| Scripps Research Institute | 20 |
| LBL Biotechnology, Inc | 20 |
| Enedym Inc | 19 |
| NUtech Ventures | 18 |
| Cambridge Display Technology | 18 |
| Musc Foundation For Research Development | 17 |
| Crowpierce Technologies Llc | 14 |
| Cyberdyne Inc | 14 |
| Hkbu R&D Licensing Limited | 13 |
| Myriota Pty Ltd | 12 |
| Technological Resources Pty Limited | 11 |
| Personal Genomics Taiwan Inc | 10 |
| Samsung | 9 |
| Immunova LLC | 9 |
| Ebt Medical Inc | 9 |
| Superd Technology Co Ltd | 8 |
| FotoNation Inc | 8 |
| CapitalBio Corporation | 8 |
| NDSU Research Foundation | 7 |
| Imagineoptix Corporation | 7 |
| Huawei | 7 |
| C2Cnt LLC | 7 |
| Dedrone Holdings Inc | 7 |
| Air Force Office Of Scientific Research | 7 |
| Realta Holdings Llc | 6 |
| ReNeuron | 6 |
| Nagoya University | 6 |
| Procter & Gamble | 6 |
| SK Hynix | 6 |
| Claremont Biosolutions Inc | 6 |
| Blackbird Tech Llc | 6 |
| Acer | 6 |
| S Biomedics | 5 |
| Nxtsens Microsystems Inc | 5 |
| Toyota | 5 |
| Seattle Children’S Hospital | 5 |
| Changchun Flexible Display Technology Co Ltd | 5 |
| Chongqing Gigachip Technology Co Ltd | 5 |