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Patent Leaderboard
USPTO Patent Rankings Data through Dec 31, 2025
Home › Technologies › Photography and imaging

Photography and imaging Patent Leaders in 2018 2018

Primary CPC class G03 · 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 5,566 patents in 2014.peak 5,5661996: 3,202 patents19961997: 3,117 patents1998: 4,137 patents1999: 3,884 patents19992000: 3,734 patents2001: 3,636 patents2002: 3,537 patents20022003: 3,588 patents2004: 3,651 patents2005: 2,993 patents20052006: 3,771 patents2007: 3,608 patents2008: 3,719 patents20082009: 3,851 patents2010: 5,032 patents2011: 5,097 patents20112012: 5,123 patents2013: 5,276 patents2014: 5,566 patents20142015: 5,436 patents2016: 4,959 patents2017: 4,013 patents20172018: 3,942 patents2019: 4,085 patents2020: 3,862 patents20202021: 3,492 patents2022: 3,140 patents2023: 2,928 patents20232024: 2,754 patents2025: 2,784 patents2025

Top Inventors

Rank ↑ Inventor ↕ Patents ↕ Primary Company ↕
1 Shougo Sato 32 Brother Kogyo
2 Yuichi Shibazaki 29 Nikon
3 Nao Itabashi 23 Brother Kogyo
#4 Ching-Yu Chang 20 TSMC
#5 Jun Hatakeyama 16 Shin-Etsu Chemical Co.
#6 Markus Deguenther 16 Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh
#7 Martin Endres 14 Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh
#8 Michael Patra 14 Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh
#9 Anthony Yen 13 TSMC
#10 Arie Jeffrey Den Boef 13 Asml Netherlands B.V.
#11 Kenji Ishii 13 Ricoh Company
#12 Masaki Ohashi 13 Shin-Etsu Chemical Co.
#13 Takahito Ueno 13 Canon
#14 Hiroshi Yoshinaga 12 Ricoh Company
#15 Shigeo Miyabe 12 Canon
#16 Takeshi Iwanaga 12 —
#17 Takashi Shimizu 12 Brother Kogyo
#18 Erik Roelof Loopstra 11 Asml Netherlands B.V.
#19 Sjoerd Nicolaas Lambertus Donders 11 Asml Netherlands B.V.
#20 Yasuhisa Morooka 11 —
#21 Fei Hu 10 Appotronics Corporation Limited
#22 Hideshi Nishiyama 10 Brother Kogyo
#23 Hiromasa Takagi 10 Ricoh Company
#24 Jan Steven Christiaan Westerlaken 10 Asml Netherlands B.V.
#25 Katrina Rosit Lactuan 10 Lexmark International
#26 Kazuna Taguchi 10 Brother Kogyo
#27 Masahiro Ishida 10 Ricoh Company
#28 Masanari Morioka 10 Canon
#29 Nicolaas Ten Kate 10 Asml Netherlands B.V.
#30 Yasuo Fukamachi 10 Brother Kogyo
#31 Yasuo Kadokura 10 —
#32 Christiaan Alexander Hoogendam 9 Asml Netherlands B.V.
#33 Ippei Fujimoto 9 Ricoh Company
#34 Jeng-Horng Chen 9 TSMC
#35 Kazuya Saito 9 Ricoh Company
#36 Kensuke Yamaji 9 Ricoh Company
#37 Koji Ichikawa 9 Sumitomo Chemical
#38 Naoki Matsuda 9 Ricoh Company
#39 Shinji Sato 9 Nikon
#40 Shuutaroh Yuasa 9 Ricoh Company
#41 Takayuki Seki 9 Ricoh Company
#42 Toshihiko Shimokawa 9 Ricoh Company
#43 Valerie M. Farrugia 9 Xerox
#44 Albert Teishev 8 HP
#45 Cory Nathan Hammond 8 Lexmark International
#46 Guerino G. Sacripante 8 Xerox
#47 Hiroki Shimizu 8 Canon
#48 Jing X. Sun 8 Dalian University
#49 Johannes Jacobus Matheus Baselmans 8 Asml Netherlands B.V.
#50 Junji Yamabe 8 Ricoh Company
#51 Junichi Yokoi 8 Brother Kogyo
#52 Katsuya Nakama 8 Canon
#53 Kazunari Sawada 8 Ricoh Company
#54 Kazuhiro Yamauchi 8 Canon
#55 Koji Abe 8 Ube Industries
#56 Motoaki Mushika 8 Brother Kogyo
#57 Nicolaas Rudolf Kemper 8 Asml Netherlands B.V.
#58 Raymond Wilhelmus Louis Lafarre 8 Asml Holding N.V.
#59 Rikimaru Sakamoto 8 Nissan Chemical Industries
#60 Satoru Yamamoto 8 Canon
#61 Shiro Hirano 8 Konica Minolta
#62 Takashi Seto 8 Ricoh Company
#63 Toralf Gruner 8 Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh
#64 Tomohisa Sano 8 Canon
#65 Yim-Bun Patrick Kwan 8 Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh
#66 Yi Li 8 Appotronics Corporation Limited
#67 Yi Yang 8 Appotronics Corporation Limited
#68 Yoshitaka Suzumura 8 Canon
#69 Yusuke Hasegawa 8 Honda Motor Co.
#70 Yuta Isobe 8 Canon
#71 Yuka ZENITANI 8 —
#72 Arinobu Yoshiura 7 Ricoh Company
#73 Atsushi Nakamoto 7 Canon
#74 Boris Bittner 7 Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh
#75 Bob Streefkerk 7 Asml Netherlands B.V.
#76 Chih-Chiang Tu 7 TSMC
#77 Chien-Wei Wang 7 TSMC
#78 Daisuke Mimura 7 Kyocera Document Solutions
#79 Frank Johannes Jacobus Van Boxtel 7 Asml Netherlands B.V.
#80 Fumihiro Hirose 7 Ricoh Company
#81 Hiroki Mori 7 Brother Kogyo
#82 Hiroaki Shishido 7 Hoya
#83 Hongseok Lee 7 Samsung
#84 Hsin-Chang Lee 7 TSMC
#85 Junpei Fujita 7 Ricoh Company
#86 Junichi Hashimoto 7 Brother Kogyo
#87 Katsuyuki Kitajima 7 —
#88 Kazuki Matsumoto 7 Canon
#89 Kazumichi Sugiyama 7 Canon
#90 Keita Shimizu 7 Brother Kogyo
#91 Kenji Sugiura 7 Ricoh Company
#92 Koji Murata 7 Kyocera Document Solutions
#93 Masataka Kuribayashi 7 —
#94 Masato Tanabe 7 Canon
#95 Makoto Tokudome 7 Canon
#96 Mingqi Li 7 Rohm And Haas Electronic Materials
#97 Naoya Kamimura 7 Brother Kogyo
#98 Noboru Ueda 7 Konica Minolta
#99 Norbert Wabra 7 Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh
#100 Osamu Anan 7 Canon

Top Companies

Rank ↑ Company ↕ Patents ↕
1 Canon 721
2 Kyocera Document Solutions 266
3 Ricoh Company 218
#4 Konica Minolta 200
#5 Fujifilm Business Innovation 185
#6 Asml Netherlands B.V. 176
#7 Brother Kogyo 154
#8 Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha 105
#9 Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh 103
#10 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba 101
#11 Nikon 96
#12 TSMC 92
#13 Samsung 76
#14 Seiko Epson 61
#15 Lexmark International 60
#16 Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. 43
#17 S-Printing Solution Co. 43
#18 Oki Data 39
#19 Xerox 39
#20 Fujifilm 38
#21 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha 35
#22 Hp Indigo B.V. 33
#23 Panasonic 29
#24 Applied Materials 26
#25 Sony 26
#26 HP 20
#27 Jsr 20
#28 Tokyo Electron Limited 19
#29 Toshiba Memory 19
#30 BOE 19
#31 Coretronic 18
#32 Kla-Tencor 18
#33 Hoya 17
#34 Rohm And Haas Electronic Materials 17
#35 Mitsubishi Chemical 15
#36 Appotronics Corporation Limited 13
#37 Asml Holding N.V. 13
#38 Casio Computer Co. 13
#39 IBM 13
#40 LG 12
#41 Sumitomo Chemical 11
#42 Globalfoundries 10
#43 Gopro 10
#44 Nissan Chemical Industries 10
#45 Zeon 10
#46 Hisense Usa 9
#47 Olympus 9
#48 Tencent 9
#49 Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co. 9
#50 Cymer 8
#51 Qisda 8
#52 Toray Industries 8
#53 Delta Electronics 7
#54 Jvckenwood 7
#55 Nec Display Solutions 7
#56 Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (Group) Co. 7
#57 United Microelectronics 7
#58 Unknown 7
#59 Microsoft 7
#60 Asahi Glass Co. 6
#61 Dolby Laboratories Licensing 6
#62 Sumitomo Rubber Industries 6
#63 Intel 6
#64 Apple 5
#65 Dai Nippon Printing Co. 5
#66 KAIST 5
#67 Mapper Lithography Ip B.V. 5
#68 Osaka University 5
#69 Osram Gmbh 5
#70 Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Shanghai) 5
#71 Stratasys 5
#72 Sumitomo Riko Company Limited 5
#73 Sz Dji Osmo Technology Co. 5
#74 Sz Dji Technology Co. 5
#75 Ushio Denki Kabushiki Kaisha 5
#76 Amazon 4
#77 Axis Ab 4
#78 Bridgestone 4
#79 Dongwoo Fine-Chem Co. 4
#80 Dow Global Technologies 4
#81 Gemmy Industries 4
#82 General Plastic Industrial Co. 4
#83 Gigaphoton 4
#84 Hitachi Maxell 4
#85 Foxconn 4
#86 Hyundai Motor 4
#87 Imec Vzw 4
#88 Kao 4
#89 Nuflare Technology 4
#90 Screen Holdings Co. 4
#91 Seiko Precision 4
#92 Toppan Printing Co. 4
#93 Zhongshan Kingway Image Tech Co. 4
#94 Disney 4
#95 Google 4
#96 Micron 4
#97 Avision 3
#98 Beijing Boe Optoelectronics Technology Co. 3
#99 Carl Zeiss Ag 3
#100 Envisics 3