Qualcomm Leads San Diego Patent Filings in Our Top 25 List

the patents granted. Japan was second, accounting for 23 percent of the total and Germany was third, with 6 percent.

In reporting its results, IFI says interest in protecting intellectual property is on an upswing, both in the United States and abroad. In the U.S., the patent office issued a total of 157,774 utility patents in 2008, up slightly from 2007. And that seems borne out by our San Diego list, at least for this year’s top 25, which collectively received slightly more patents than last year. Finally, IFI cautions that its tallies—and the rankings—are based only on the patents issued to companies’ operations in the San Diego region. So, for example, patents awarded to SAIC business units in Virginia would not be included in the rankings for San Diego.

Here’s the top 25 list:

Rank      Company   — Patents ’08   —  Patents ’07

1.    Qualcomm   (Wireless)     —    283    —    275
2.    Callaway Golf    (Sporting Goods) — 64 —57
3.    SAIC    (IT, Contractor, R&D)    —  41  —  32
4.    Kyocera Wireless    (Wireless)   — 38  —  43
5.    Cymer    (Laser, Semiconductors)  — 34 — 32
6.    AMCC    (Semiconductors)        —    22  —  32
Isis Pharmaceuticals    (Biotech)   —  22  — 31
8.    Fallbrook Technologies    (Automotive)  — 21 — 31
9.    Gen-Probe    (Biotech)  — 19 —  14
10.  Dot Hill Systems    (Data Storage) — 18   — 3
11.  Takeda San Diego  [previously Syrrx]   (Biotech) — 15 — 13
12. Maxwell Technologies   (Energy Storage) — 14  — 10
13. Qualcomm MEMS   (Communications) — 13 —  4
Life Technologies  [previously Invitrogen]   (Biotech) — 13 — 29
Pulse-Link    (Semiconductors)  — 13  —  5
16. General Atomics    (Contractor, R&D)  — 12  — 14
Taylor Made Golf    (Sporting Goods)  — 12  —  19
18. Senomyx    (Biotech)  — 11  — 11
19. ViaSat    (Communications)  — 10 — 7
Biosite Diagnostics    (Biotech)  — 10 — 2
Signal Pharmaceuticals    (Biotech) — 10 — 7
Verenium  [previously Diversa]    (Biotech) — 10 — 7
23. Luxtera    (Biotech)  — 8 — 20
Cardinal Health    (Medical Equipment)  — 8 — 14
Cubic Corp  (Defense, Transportation)  — 8  —  5
Trex Enterprises  (Contractor, R&D)  — 8 — 7

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Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.