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Patent Leaderboard
USPTO Patent Rankings Data through Dec 31, 2025
Home › Technologies › Optics and photonics

Optics and photonics Patent Leaders in 2016 2016

Primary CPC class G02 · Section G

Rankings count each patent once by its primary Cooperative Patent Classification. All-time pages aggregate the full database; year pages use patent grant year.

Recent years: 2016201720182019202020212022202320242025

Patents per Year

Patents granted per year, 1996 to 2025Bar chart with a peak of 8,985 patents in 2019.peak 8,9851996: 2,278 patents19961997: 2,459 patents1998: 3,436 patents1999: 3,249 patents19992000: 3,507 patents2001: 3,890 patents2002: 4,204 patents20022003: 4,794 patents2004: 5,388 patents2005: 5,063 patents20052006: 5,602 patents2007: 5,161 patents2008: 5,164 patents20082009: 5,377 patents2010: 6,114 patents2011: 5,831 patents20112012: 5,827 patents2013: 6,265 patents2014: 6,659 patents20142015: 6,748 patents2016: 7,235 patents2017: 7,938 patents20172018: 7,427 patents2019: 8,985 patents2020: 8,699 patents20202021: 7,734 patents2022: 7,685 patents2023: 7,238 patents20232024: 7,518 patents2025: 7,097 patents2025

Top Inventors

Rank ↑ Inventor ↕ Patents ↕ Primary Company ↕
1 Hsin-Hsuan Huang 28 Largan Precision Co.
2 Michio Cho 27 Fujifilm
3 James Phillip Luther 26 Corning Cable Systems
#4 Wei-Yu Chen 26 Largan Precision Co.
#5 Gang Yu 22 Tencent
#6 John N. Border 22 Osterhout Group
#7 Yuchun Hsiao 22 Tencent
#8 Ki Chul Shin 21 Samsung
#9 Micah Colen Isenhour 21 Corning Optical Communications
#10 Tsung-Han Tsai 21 Largan Precision Co.
#11 Dennis Michael Knecht 19 Corning Cable Systems
#12 Randall B. Pugh 19 Johnson & Johnson
#13 Shih-Han Chen 19 Genius Electronic Optical Co.
#14 Shunpei Yamazaki 19 Semiconductor Energy Laboratory
#15 Noboru Kunimatsu 17 Japan Display
#16 Ashok V. Krishnamoorthy 16 Oracle
#17 Frederick A. Flitsch 15 Johnson & Johnson
#18 John D. Haddick 15 Mentor Acquisition One
#19 Moon Soo Park 15 LG
#20 Yi Hung 15 Foxconn
#21 Jin Hirosawa 14 Japan Display
#22 Xuezhe Zheng 14 Oracle
#23 Yasushi Tomioka 14 Japan Display
#24 Hajime Kimura 13 Semiconductor Energy Laboratory
#25 Hidehiro Sonoda 13 Japan Display
#26 Yeong-Ming Chang 13 Ability Opto-Electronics Technology Co.
#27 Anurag Gupta 12 Google
#28 Dana Craig Bookbinder 12 Corning Incorporated
#29 Gege Zhou 12 Tencent
#30 Kyung Tae Chae 12 Samsung
#31 Seon Uk LEE 12 Samsung
#32 Shou-Shan Fan 12 Foxconn
#33 Tae Woon Cha 12 Samsung
#34 Yanbing Wu 12 BOE
#35 Adam Toner 11 Johnson & Johnson
#36 Eiji Satoh 11 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
#37 Hitoshi Hirano 11 Kantatsu Co.
#38 HSIN-SHUN HUANG 11 Foxconn
#39 I-THUN LIN 11 Foxconn
#40 James Daniel Riall 11 Johnson & Johnson
#41 Kenichi Kubota 11 Kantatsu Co.
#42 Matthew Holmberg 11 Commscope Technologies
#43 Masaki Kato 11 Inphi
#44 Masaya Tamaki 11 Japan Display
#45 Masahiro Yoshida 11 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
#46 Nai-Yuan Tang 11 Ability Opto-Electronics Technology Co.
#47 Shinichiro OKA 11 Japan Display
#48 Takayuki Noda 11 Fujifilm
#49 Trevor D. Smith 11 Adc Telecommunications
#50 Yoji Kubota 11 Kantatsu Co.
#51 Baek-Kyun Jeon 10 Samsung
#52 David A. Fattal 10 Leia
#53 Dehua Li 10 Tencent
#54 Hideki Yagi 10 Sumitomo Electric Industries
#55 Hyeok Jin Lee 10 Samsung
#56 Jean-Robert Manouvrier 10 Stmicroelectronics Sa
#57 Mee-Hye Jung 10 Samsung
#58 PO-CHOU CHEN 10 Foxconn
#59 Radhakrishnan L. Nagarajan 10 Inphi
#60 Ralph F. Osterhout 10 Mentor Acquisition One
#61 Ronald D. Blum 10 E-Vision
#62 Shinichi Uehara 10 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
#63 Tae Woo LIM 10 Samsung
#64 Takahiro Nagami 10 Japan Display
#65 Takashi Takeda 10 Seiko Epson
#66 Akira Komatsu 9 Seiko Epson
#67 Arihiro Takeda 9 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
#68 Cheng Chen 9 Apple
#69 Fu-Yuan Wu 9 Tdk Taiwan
#70 Guofu Tang 9 Tencent
#71 Hee-Keun Lee 9 Samsung
#72 Hisashi Watanabe 9 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
#73 Jang Wi Ryu 9 Samsung
#74 Kiyoshi Minoura 9 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
#75 Masashi Miyakawa 9 Sony
#76 Masayuki Takagi 9 Seiko Epson
#77 Minoru Miyatake 9 Nitto Denko
#78 Michael G. Robinson 9 Reald Spark
#79 Oscar Fernando Bran de León 9 Commscope Technologies
#80 Ozan Cakmakci 9 Google
#81 Poche Lee 9 Genius Electronic Optical Co.
#82 Shunichi Suwa 9 Sony
#83 Takato Hiratsuka 9 Japan Display
#84 Takashi Kato 9 Fujifilm
#85 Takeharu Kitagawa 9 Nitto Denko
#86 Takahiro Totani 9 Seiko Epson
#87 Toshiaki Miyao 9 Seiko Epson
#88 Tzu-Chien Tang 9 Genius Electronic Optical Co.
#89 William Kokonaski 9 E-Vision Smart Optics
#90 Woo Yong Sung 9 Samsung
#91 Xue Dong 9 BOE
#92 Yanxue Zhang 9 Tencent
#93 Yu Lu 9 Commscope Technologies
#94 Anshu A. Pradhan 8 View
#95 Chun-Shan Chen 8 Largan Precision Co.
#96 CHAU-JIN HU 8 Foxconn
#97 Chikae Matsui 8 Panasonic
#98 Guoliang Li 8 Oracle
#99 Hak-Sun Chang 8 Samsung
#100 Hiroki Yasuda 8 Hitachi

Top Companies

Rank ↑ Company ↕ Patents ↕
1 Samsung 572
2 BOE 251
3 Japan Display 220
#4 LG 200
#5 Tencent 178
#6 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha 161
#7 Fujifilm 154
#8 Canon 140
#9 Foxconn 118
#10 Panasonic 117
#11 Seiko Epson 107
#12 Sony 105
#13 Olympus 98
#14 Commscope Technologies 95
#15 3M 81
#16 Largan Precision Co. 69
#17 Sumitomo Electric Industries 66
#18 IBM 65
#19 Corning Optical Communications 62
#20 Beijing Boe Display Technology Co. 59
#21 Lg Innotek Co. 59
#22 Au Optronics 56
#23 Beijing Boe Optoelectronics Technology Co. 54
#24 Genius Electronic Optical Co. 54
#25 Semiconductor Energy Laboratory 50
#26 Innolux 48
#27 Amazon 47
#28 Fujikura 47
#29 Nitto Denko 47
#30 Google 47
#31 Apple 45
#32 Nikon 44
#33 Mitsubishi Electric 43
#34 Corning Cable Systems 38
#35 Intel 38
#36 Fujitsu Limited 37
#37 Ricoh Company 36
#38 Microsoft 35
#39 Johnson & Johnson 34
#40 Corning Incorporated 32
#41 Ofs Fitel 30
#42 Dai Nippon Printing Co. 28
#43 Kantatsu Co. 28
#44 KAIST 28
#45 Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh 27
#46 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba 27
#47 Konica Minolta 27
#48 Unknown 27
#49 Avago Technologies General Ip (Singapore) Pte. 24
#50 Carl Zeiss Microscopy Gmbh 24
#51 E Ink Holdings 23
#52 Koniniklijke Philips N.V. 22
#53 Ability Opto-Electronics Technology Co. 21
#54 Essilor International (Compagnie Generale D'Optique) 21
#55 Hewlett Packard Enterprise 21
#56 Nec 20
#57 Osterhout Group 20
#58 Stmicroelectronics Sa 20
#59 Danaher 20
#60 RTX (Raytheon) 20
#61 Cisco 19
#62 Huawei 19
#63 Caltech 18
#64 CEA 18
#65 Afl Telecommunications 17
#66 Chengdu Boe Optoelectronics Technology Co. 17
#67 Delta Electronics 17
#68 Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. 17
#69 Hefei Boe Optoelectronics Technology Co. 17
#70 Shanghai Tianma Micro-Electronics Co. 17
#71 Tianma Microelectronics Co. 17
#72 Oracle 17
#73 Cheil Industries 16
#74 E Ink California 16
#75 Enplas 16
#76 HP 16
#77 ITRI 16
#78 Lumentum Operations 16
#79 Nlt Technologies 16
#80 Te Connectivity Co. 16
#81 Hitachi 15
#82 Toppan Printing Co. 15
#83 Texas Instruments 15
#84 Finisar 14
#85 Fujitsu Optical Components Limited 14
#86 Pixtronix 14
#87 Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co. 14
#88 The Boeing 14
#89 View 14
#90 Yazaki 14
#91 Bae Systems Plc 13
#92 Globalfoundries 13
#93 Reald 13
#94 Rockwell Collins 13
#95 Sandia 13
#96 Tsinghua University 13
#97 Dexerials 12
#98 Novartis Ag 12
#99 University of California 12
#100 Asia Optical Co. 11