Walmart was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton and is doing business in Retail. The Company offers a range of Retail, Technology, Transportation, Logistics, Merchandising, Marketing, Operations, Health & Wellness, e-commerce, and Management.
Walmart has a total of 6515 patents globally, out of which 1875 Walmart patents have been granted. Of these 6515 patents, more than 61.39% of patents are active. These patents belong to 2861 unique patent families. USA is where Walmart has filed the maximum number of patents, followed by Canada and the United Kingdom and it also seems reasonable as the biggest market for Walmart in the USA, it has generated annual revenue of $559.2 billion in the third quarter of the year 2021. Parallelly, the USA seems to be the main focused R&D center and is also the origin country of Walmart.
How many Walmart patents are Alive/Dead?
Worldwide Patents
Patent Families
How Many Patents did Walmart 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.
You can also read our analysis on, Walmart’s 953 pending US patent applications.
| Year of Patents Filing or Grant | Walmart Applications Filed | Walmart Patents Granted |
| 2011 | 57 | 14 |
| 2012 | 219 | 29 |
| 2013 | 251 | 33 |
| 2014 | 271 | 54 |
| 2015 | 230 | 81 |
| 2016 | 783 | 82 |
| 2017 | 1663 | 114 |
| 2018 | 1347 | 248 |
| 2019 | 1126 | 488 |
| 2020 | 239 | 431 |
| 2021 | 70 | 259 |
How Many Patents did Walmart File in Different Countries?
Countries in which Walmart Filed Patents
| Country | Patents |
| United States Of America | 3308 |
| Canada | 694 |
| United Kingdom | 511 |
| Mexico | 452 |
| India | 147 |
| China | 93 |
| Japan | 59 |
| Brazil | 37 |
| Europe | 25 |
| Russian Federation | 14 |
| South Africa | 3 |
| France | 2 |
| Argentina | 1 |
| Australia | 1 |
| Netherlands | 1 |
| Poland | 1 |
| Korea (South) | 1 |
Where are Research Centers of Walmart Patents Located?
10 Best Walmart Patents
US8595234B2 is the most popular patent in the Walmart portfolio. It has received 167 citations so far from companies like Palantir, IBM, and Microsoft.
Below is the list of 10 most cited patents of Walmart:
| Publication Number | Citation Count |
| US8595234B2 | 167 |
| US20120059708A1 | 145 |
| US20120059713A1 | 134 |
| US6731927B1 | 104 |
| US20160255969A1 | 93 |
| US7340048B2 | 92 |
| US20170148324A1 | 90 |
| US8122016B1 | 86 |
| US20060177065A1 | 79 |
| US20150102903A1 | 76 |
Which Companies are using Walmart 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 of the Walmart patent portfolio are IBM, Toshiba and Microsoft.
| Company | Number of Patents |
| IBM | 392 |
| Toshiba | 152 |
| Microsoft | 126 |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank | 113 |
| Mastercard | 76 |
| 72 | |
| Amazon | 66 |
| eBay | 58 |
| Paypal | 57 |
| 53 |
Count of 102 and 103 Type Rejections based on Walmart Patents
Top Walmart Patents used in Rejecting Most Patent Applications
| Patent Number | Count of Rejected Applications |
| US8595234B2 | 37 |
| US10121133B2 | 24 |
| US20120059713A1 | 19 |
| US20060177065A1 | 15 |
| US9761139B2 | 14 |
| US8315849B1 | 14 |
| US8626491B2 | 13 |
| US20110087647A1 | 13 |
| US8122360B2 | 12 |
| US9015069B2 | 12 |
| US20140136255A1 | 11 |
| US8432258B2 | 10 |
| US8175966B2 | 10 |
| US8122016B1 | 10 |
| US8332269B2 | 10 |
| US10435241B2 | 10 |
| US10083467B2 | 10 |
| US9940660B2 | 9 |
| US8091780B2 | 9 |
| US9824384B2 | 9 |
What Percentage of Walmart US Patent Applications were Granted?
Walmart (Excluding its subsidiaries) has filed 2978 patent applications at USPTO so far (Excluding Design and PCT applications). Out of these 1437 have been granted leading to a grant rate of 61.62%.
Below are the key stats of Walmart’s patent prosecution at the USPTO.
Which Law Firms Filed Most US Patents for Walmart?
| Law Firm | Total Applications | Success Rate |
| Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery | 1399 | 58.90% |
| Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner | 737 | 69.04% |
| Schmeiser Olsen & Watts | 230 | 50.22% |
| Duane Morris | 198 | 73.42% |
| Barta Jones & Foley | 170 | 65.91% |
| Patterson Thuente Pedersen | 108 | 55.06% |
| Vierra Magen Marcus | 30 | 93.75% |
| Venable | 8 | 62.50% |
| Baker Botts | 4 | 75.00% |
| BakerHostetler | 2 | 0.00% |
Doug McMillon, Walmart’s CEO, said: “We will also develop new capabilities to serve customers in new ways. It is important that we all understand the shift that has happened in technology and retail, what it means for us and what we’re doing to win. There’s a lot of innovation and opportunity available to us.”
Walmart is innovating, the firm attempts to strengthen its position as America’s largest supermarket, it has a technical weapon that will allow it to pick, pack, and deliver shoppers’ online grocery shopping faster. Grocery sales account for 56% of Walmart’s total U.S. revenue.
Walmart has been pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a tech-centric firm rather than a typical store. Its focus and strategy have moved to become a high-tech pioneer.
What are Walmart‘s key innovation segments? What can you expect next?
What Technologies are Covered by Walmart Patents?
The chart below distributes patents filed by Walmart in different countries on the basis of the technology protected in patents. It also represents the markets where Walmart thinks it’s important to protect particular technology inventions.
R&D Focus: How Walmart Research Focus Changed Over the Years?
Interested in knowing about the areas of innovation that are being protected by Walmart?