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Thomas Alva Edison was widely known as the America's most prolific inventor, even after his death in 1931.^[1][2] He held a total of 1,093 U.S. patents (1,084 utility patents and 9 design patents).^[3] In 2003, his patent count was exceeded by Japanese inventor Shunpei Yamazaki.^[4] On February 26, 2008, Yamazaki's patent count was exceeded by Australian inventor Kia Silverbrook.^[5] In 2017, Silverbrook's patent count was exceeded by Yamazaki.

Worldwide utility patents

Inventors with 200 or more worldwide utility patents are shown in the following table. While in many cases this is the number of utility patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, it may include utility patents granted by other countries, as noted by the source references for an inventor.

Inventor	# of patents	Country	Active	Main fields of invention	Ref
Shunpei Yamazaki	5407	Japan	1976-2019	Thin film transistors, Liquid crystal displays, Solar cells, Flash memory, OLED	[6][4][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]
Kia Silverbrook	4747	Australia	1994-2018	Printing, Digital paper, Internet, Electronics, CGI, Chemical, DNA, Lab-on-a-chip, MEMS, Mechanical, VLSI	[17][18][4][5][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]
Lowell L. Wood, Jr.	1841	USA	1977-2019	Various	[19][20][15]
Roderick A. Hyde	1740	USA	2001-2019	Various	[21][22][15]
Kangguo Cheng	1714	USA	2004-2019	Semiconductor device fabrication, Semiconductor memory, Semiconductor device	[23][24]
Jun Koyama	1369	Japan	1991-2019	Thin film transistors, Liquid crystal displays, OLED	[25][26]
Gurtej Sandhu	1315	India	1991-2019	Thin film processes and materials, VLSI, Semiconductor device fabrication	[27][28][7][8][9][16]
Paul Lapstun	1288	Australia	2000-2018	Printing, Digital paper, Internet, Electronics, CGI, VLSI	[29][30][4][9][10][11][12][13][14]
Clarence T. Tegreene	1145	USA	2000-2019	Various	[31][32]
Leonard Forbes	1105	Canada	1991-2019	Semiconductor Memories, CCDs, Thin film processes and materials, VLSI	[33][34][4][8][9][10][12]
Thomas Edison	1084	USA	1847(b)-1931(d)	Electric power, Lighting, Batteries, Phonograph, Cement, Telegraphy, Mining	[2][3][4][5][35][36]
Edward K. Y. Jung	1049	USA	1996-2019	Various	[37][38][15]
Shou-Shan Fan	1002	China	2006-2019	Carbon nanotubes and their applications	[39][40]
Donald E. Weder	1000	USA	1976-2017	Florist supplies	[41][42][4][7][8][9][16]
George Albert Lyon	993	Canada	1882(b)-1961(d)	Automotive, Stainless steel products	[4][43]
Jay S. Walker	958	USA	1998-2019	Gaming machines	[44][45][9][14]
John F. O'Connor	949	USA	1864(b)-1938(d)	Railway draft gearing	[4][46]
Michael J. Sullivan	944	USA	1977-2019	Golf balls	[47][48]
Melvin De Groote	925	USA	1895(b)-1963(d)	Chemical de-emulsifiers	[2][4]
Rick Allen Hamilton II	923	USA	1999-2019	Various	[49][50][15]
Francis H. Richards	894	USA	1850(b)-19??(d)	Mechanical, automation	[2][4]
Jordin T. Kare	889	USA	1992-2019	Various	[51][52]
Ahmadreza Rofougaran	847	USA	2002-2019	Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits	[53][54]
Nathan Myhrvold	843	USA	1994-2019	Various	[55][56]
Mark Malamud	812	USA	1997-2019	Various	[57][58][15]
Robert W. Lord	799	USA	2003-2019	Various	[59][60]
Royce A. Levien	796	USA	1997-2019	Various	[61][62][15]
Muriel Y. Ishikawa	787	USA	2002-2019	Various	[63][64][65]
William H. Eby	776	USA	1994-2019	Transgenic soybeans	[66][67]
Warren Farnworth	772	USA	1990-2017	Semiconductor packaging	[68][69][7][8][9]
Salman Akram	756	USA	1995-2019	Semiconductor packaging	[70][71][7][8][9]
Carleton Ellis	753	USA	1876(b)-1941(d)	Margarine, Polyester, Anti-knock gasoline, Paint stripper	[46][72]
Jeyhan Karaoguz	747	USA	1996-2019	Wireless communications, Computer networks	[73][74]
Hideo Ando	729	Japan	1983-2017	Optical recording	[75][76][14]
George Spector	722	USA	1976-1998	Gadgets, Toys	[77][78][7][8]
Austin L. Gurney	714	USA	1999-2019	Proteins, Antibodies	[79][80][10][11]
Elihu Thomson	696	UK	1853(b)-1937(d)	Electric power, Arc lamp, Electric motors, Lightning arrester, Arc welder	[2][46]
Tetsujiro Kondo	695	Japan	1987-2018	Signal processing, Image processing	[81][82]
Ali Khakifirooz	692	USA	2011-2019	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, Semiconductor device fabrication	[83][84]
William I. Wood	653	USA	1981-2016	Proteins, Antibodies	[85][86][10][11]
Simon R. Walmsley	651	Australia	1995-2015	Printing, Electronics, VLSI, Cryptography	[87][88][13][14]
Bruce B. Doris	639	USA	1995-2019	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, Semiconductor device fabrication	[89][90]
Audrey D. Goddard	624	USA	1997-2019	Proteins, Antibodies	[91][92][10][11]
John M. Santosuosso	619	USA	2001-2019	Various	[93][94]
Jerome Lemelson	606	USA	1923(b)-1997(d)	Toys, Industrial robots, Cordless telephones, Fax machines, Videocassette recorders	[95][2][16][96]
Edward J. Nowak	606	USA	1979-2019	Semiconductor device fabrication, Semiconductor memory, Semiconductor device	[97][98]
Eric C. Leuthardt	604	USA	2006-2019	Medical devices	[99][100]
Tadahiro Ohmi	597	Japan	1981-2018	Thin film processes and materials, Semiconductor device fabrication	[101][102]
Kie Y Ahn	596	USA	1976-2018	Thin film processes and materials, VLSI, Semiconductor device fabrication	[103][104]
Béla Barényi	595	Austria	1907(b)-1997(d)	Passive safety in automobiles	[105][106]
Paul J. Godowski	579	USA	1994-2014	Proteins, Antibodies	[107][108][10][11]
Artur Fischer	570	Germany	1976-2002	Fasteners, Construction toys	[109][110][111]
Devendra K. Sadana	561	India	1983-2019	Solar cells, OLED, Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, LEDs	[112][113]
Clifford A. Pickover	560	USA	1992-2019	Various	[114][115]
Louis L. Hsu	551	USA	1988-2016	Various	[116][117]
Chih-Chao Yang	542	USA	2003-2019	Integrated Circuits	[118][119]
Jeffrey P. Gambino	540	USA	1992-2019	MEMS, CMOS, BiCMOS, DRAM, Image Sensors, RF, Biosensors, 3D Integrated Circuits	[120][121]
Edwin H. Land	535	USA	1909(b)-1991(d)	Instant photography, Polarizing film	[122][123]
Victoria Y. H. Wood	531	USA	2009-2019	Various	[124][125]
Henri Dreyfus	524	Switzerland	1882(b)-1944(d)	Polymers, Synthetic fibers, Dyes	[126][127]
Clyde C. Farmer	513	USA	18??(b)-19??(d)	Railway air brakes	[128][46][129]
Heinz Focke	512	Germany	1976-2013	Cigarette packaging	[130][131][7]
Mark I. Gardner	511	USA	1994-2010	Consumer electronics, Energy, Computers, Semiconductors, Physics	[132][133][7][8]
Ravi K. Arimilli	508	India	1992-2019	Computer architecture, Semiconductor memory, Cache coherence, Symmetric multiprocessing	[134][135]
Anthony K. Stamper	504	USA	1998-2019	MEMS, CMOS, BiCMOS, Silicon-germanium	[136][137]
Louis H. Morin	503	USA	18??(b)-19??(d)	Fasteners, Locks, Bobbins	[138][129]
Tobin A. King	501	Australia	2000-2018	Printing, Digital paper, Mechanical	[139][140]
Ronald S. Cok	498	USA	1986-2019	OLED displays; image processing	[141][142]
Belgacem Haba	488	Algeria	1991-2019	Semiconductor manufacturing	[143][144]
Gregory J. Boss	486	USA	2008-2019	Various	[145][146]
Robert S. Langer	484	USA	1983-2019	Biotechnology, Drug delivery, Tissue engineering	[147][148]
James M. Hart	482	USA	1988-2019	Motor vehicle transmission	[149][150]
Jack A. Mandelman	481	USA	1987-2014	Various	[151][152]
Kai-Li Jiang	469	China	2006-2019	Carbon nanotubes and their applications	[153][154]
Akira Nakazawa	458	Australia	1980-2018	Printing, Mechanical	[155][156]
Eberhard Ammermann	451	Germany	1979-2015	Fungicides	[157][158][16]
Thomas E. Murray	449	USA	1860(b)-1929(d)	Electrical, HVAC, Wheels, Metal working, Light dimmer	[159][160]
Lisa Seacat DeLuca	441	USA	2009-2019	Various	[161][162]
Hongyong Zhang	440	Japan	1993-2016	Thin film transistors, Liquid crystal displays	[163][164]
Scott H. Wittkopp	432	USA	2001-2017	Motor vehicle transmission	[165][166][14]
John L. Melanson	432	USA	1978-2019	Integrated circuits, semiconductors, mixed-signal products, signal processing, audio and voice components, hearing aids, LED lighting, and motor control	[167][168]
Ruilong Xie	431	USA	2013-2019	Semiconductor device, CMOS, Semiconductor device fabrication	[169][170]
Brian M. O'Connell	421	USA	2009-2019	Various	[171][172]
Frederick A. Ware	418	USA	1981-2019	Chip design	[173][174]
John Hays Hammond, Jr.	417	USA	1888(b)-1965(d)	Radio control, Radio communications, Torpedoes	[175][176]
Hossein Eslambolchi	414	USA	1993-2018	Telecommunications, Network intelligence, information Technology, communications technology	[177][178]
Wilhelm Brandes	411	Germany	1976-2010	Fungicides	[179][180]
Xuemin (Sherman) Chen	410	USA	1997-2018	Computer networks, Integrated Circuits, Signal Processing	[181][182][183][184][185]
Cary L. Bates	410	USA	1994-2019	Programming tools, DBX, Memory debuggers	[186][187][188]
Vincent J. Zimmer	410	USA	1999-2019	Computer software and firmware	[189][190]
Stanford R. Ovshinsky	400	USA	1922(b)-2012(d)	Batteries, Solar cells, Liquid crystal displays, Hydrogen fuel cells, Computer data storage	[191][192][193]
Brent A. Anderson	390	USA	2001-2019	Semiconductor device fabrication, Semiconductor memory, Semiconductor device	[194][195]
Josef Theurer	388	Austria	1976-2016	Railroad maintenance machines	[196][197][16]
David V. Horak	387	USA	1992-2018	Various	[198][199]
Paul W. Dent	381	USA	1984-2019	Wireless communications	[200][201]
George P. Liang	379	China	1983-2018	Gas turbine cooling	[202][203]
Wael W. Diab	378	USA	2003-2018	Computer networks	[204][205]
Hans-Joachim Santel	377	Germany	1986-2013	Herbicides, Pesticides, Organic chemistry	[206][207][16]
Gisela Lorenz	374	Germany	1990-2015	Fungicides, Organic chemistry	[208][209][16]
Sarbajit K. Rakshit	373	India	2013-2019	Various	[210][211]
Garry R. Jackson	367	Australia	2001-2016	Printing, Mechanical	[212][213]
George Westinghouse	361	USA	1846(b)-1914(d)	Electric power, Electricity meter, Railway air brake, Steam engines	[214][215][216]
Pouya Hashemi	358	USA	2013-2019	Semiconductor, VLSI, CMOS logic and memory, cognitive	[217][218]
Jeffrey E. Stahmann	357	USA	1994-2019	Medical devices	[219][220]
William Daniel Hillis	357	USA	1986-2019	Various	[221][222]
Norman M. Berry	355	Australia	2006-2018	Printing, Mechanical	[223][224]
Mark W. Kroll	353	USA	1987-2019	Implantable medical devices	[225][226][227]
Robert R. Schmidt	350	Germany	1971-2005	Herbicides, Fungicides, Organic chemistry	[228][229]
Carl J. Radens	341	USA	1994-2019	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, Semiconductor device fabrication	[230][231]
Lawrence A. Clevenger	340	USA	1996-2019	Semiconductor, Cognitive, Memory, Security, Analytics	[232][233]
Bengt Lindoff	334	Sweden	2000-2019	Wireless communications	[234][235]
Ajith K. Kumar	332	India	1984-2019	Electric Power, Energy Management, Rail Transportation, Mining	[236][237]
Keith R. Walker	324	Saudi Arabia	2003-2019	Various	[238][239]
Elizabeth A. Sweeney	324	USA	2010-2019	Various	[240][241]
Hanson S. Gifford III	323	USA	1986-2019	Medical devices	[242][243]
Dean L. Kamen	323	USA	1979-2019	Battery-powered electric vehicles, Medical devices, Stirling engines, Water purification, Wheelchairs	[244][245]
Esmael H. Dinan	315	USA	2006-2019	Communication networks	[246][247]
Steven L. Teig	314	USA	1995-2018	Integrated Circuits	[248][249]
Liang Liu	314	China	2005-2019	Carbon nanotubes and their applications	[250][251]
Daniel J. Winarski	314	USA	1982-2019	Various	[252][253]
Timothy J. Slegel	312	USA	1993-2019	Computer architecture	[254][255]
Frank J. Viola	310	USA	1981-2019	Surgical instruments, Medical devices	[256][257]
Victor S. Moore	309	USA	1982-2019	Various	[258][259]
Victoria Smith	308	USA	2006-2017	Proteins, Antibodies	[260][261]
Kulvir S. Bhogal	307	USA	2003-2019	Various	[262][263]
Robert G. LeTourneau	299	USA	1888(b)-1969(d)	Earthworks (engineering), Heavy Equipment, Industrial Machinery	[264][265]
Michael (S.) Tsirkin	294	Israel	2012-2019	Virtual Machines, I/O Data Processing, Computer Graphics, Power Management, Computer Memory, Computer Networks, Distributed Data Processing, Fault Recovery, Data Structures	[266][267]
William R. Tonti	291	USA	1994-2016	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM, Semiconductor device fabrication	[268][269]
Zine-Eddine Boutaghou	290	Algeria	1994-2018	Hard disk drive	[270][271]
Assaf Natanzon	288	Israel	2007-2019	Storage Systems, Data Protection	[272][273]
Adam Heller	284	Romania	1968-2019	Solar cells, Glucose meters, Lasers	[274][275][276]
Jeffrey W. Sleight	283	USA	1998-2019	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, Semiconductor device fabrication	[277][278]
Brent Keeth	280	USA	1994-2019	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, DRAM	[279][280]
Madhusudan K. Iyengar	277	India	2005-2019	Chip Cooling	[281][282]
Cyprian E. Uzoh	272	Nigeria	1998-2019	Semiconductor processing	[283][284]
Michael A. Rothman	272	USA	2001-2019	Computer software and firmware	[285][286]
Daniel C. Edelstein	270	USA	1991-2019	Semiconductor manufacturing	[287][288]
Hartley Owen	267	USA	1976-2010	Fluid catalytic cracking	[289][290]
Bran Ferren	259	USA	1986-2019	Computers, Consumer Electronics, Electro-Optical Systems, Medical, User Interfaces, Automotive, Vehicles & Transportation	[291][292]
Yoshihiro Kikuchi	257	Japan	1994-2018	Video processing	[293][294]
Christopher J. Dawson	255	USA	2006-2019	Various	[295][296]
Harry (Tom) Graef	254	USA	1976-2019	Business machines, automation	[297][298]
Takeshi Chujoh	253	Japan	1995-2019	Video processing	[299][300]
Rajiv V. Joshi	252	USA	1986-2019	Electronics, analytics	[301][302]
Craig E. Hampel	250	USA	1996-2019	Integrated Circuits	[303][304]
Nobuyuki Taniguchi	245	Japan	1979-2015	Cameras	[305][306]
Dorin Comaniciu	245	USA	2003-2019	Machine Intelligence, Medical Imaging, Image-Guided Surgery, Computer Vision	[307][308]
Johnny M. Shieh	242	USA	1996-2018	Various	[309][310]
Andrew J. Ouderkirk	241	USA	1989-2019	LEDs, Optic Films	[311][312]
Philip S. Yu	240	USA	1982-2018	Various	[313][314]
Sandeep R. Patil	240	India	2008-2019	Various	[315][316]
Imad Libbus	237	USA	2007-2019	Medical devices	[317][318]
Gerald F. McBrearty	231	USA	1997-2018	Various	[319][320]
Louis B. Rosenberg	231	USA	1995-2019	Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, HCI	[321][322]
Zvi Or-Bach	230	USA	1982-2019	Various	[323][324]
Thomas J. Kennedy III	228	USA	1992-2018	Sporting Goods, Wind Turbines, Biotechnology	[325][326]
Mark A. Horowitz	226	USA	1993-2019	Integrated Circuits	[327][328]
Michael L. Fripp	225	USA	2004-2019	Oilfield	[329][330]
James R. Kraemer	224	USA	2008-2019	Various	[331][332]
Dureseti Chidambarrao	221	USA	1995-2017	Integrated Circuits, CMOS, Semiconductor device fabrication	[333][334]
Paul Ian Mackey	220	Australia	2008-2016	Printing, Mechanical	[335][336]
James W. Seaman	219	USA	2005-2019	Various	[337][338]
Jonathan J. Hull	215	USA	1987-2019	Various	[339][340]
Seung H. Kang	215	USA	2002-2019	Semiconductor device technologies, MRAM, spintronics, and memory circuit design	[341][342]
Stephen G. Perlman	212	USA	1989-2019	Wireless communications, Cloud gaming, Video compression	[343][344]
Mukta Ghate Farooq	212	India	1993-2019	Semiconductor materials and structures, packaging technology, and 3-dimensional silicon integration	[345][346]
Sebastian T. Ventrone	210	USA	1989-2019	Semiconductor, Logic, Architecture	[347][348]
Gregory McAvoy	208	Ireland	2003-2017	Printing, MEMS	[349][350]
Hiroshi (You) Yoshioka	205	Japan	1997-2015	Cameras	[351][352]
Patrick B. Usoro	205	USA	1999-2016	Motor vehicle transmission, Hybrid Powertrains, Vehicle Thermal Management	[353][354]
Rajarshi Gupta	203	India	2004-2019	Wireless networking, Machine Learning, Cybersecurity	[355][356]
Sadeg M. Faris	202	Libya	1979-2018	Various	[357][358]

This table is usually updated every Tuesday evening in US Eastern time, and is current as of April 2, 2019^[update].
The columns are defined as follows:

• 
  Inventor: The name of the inventor.


• 
  # of patents: This is the number of utility patents that have been issued. Only utility patents (or the international equivalent) are listed, as a utility patent is a patent for an invention. Not all patents are for inventions. Other patent types include: design patents for the ornamental design of an object; plant patents for plant varieties; and reissue patents, where a correction is made to an already granted patent. This list does not include patent applications (patents pending) as there is no guarantee that a patent application actually describes a novel invention until the patent is granted.


• 
  Country: This is the country of birth or upbringing of the inventor, where known. If unknown, this is the country of residence identified in the inventor's patent filings.


• 
  Active: The first and last year in which an inventor received a patent issuance, except when activity was prior to digital records, in which case year of birth (b) and death (d) may be substituted. If an inventor's first year is 1976 or a few years after, there may be activity prior to this; earlier dates are not present in the primary source, and would require a secondary source.


• 
  Main fields of invention: These are the main areas that the inventor is or was active in.

Threshold for inclusion

As the average number of patents per inventor is around 3, some sources define prolific inventors as five times above the average (in terms of patents), leading to a threshold of 15 patents.^[359] However, this table currently has an arbitrary cut-off limit for inclusion of 200 patents. This is purely for practical reasons – there are tens of thousands of inventors with more than 15 patents. The threshold of 200 patents means that some famous prolific inventors such as Nikola Tesla are not included in this list, as Tesla had 111 patents.^[360][361]

Significance of inventions

This table is a sortable list of the most prolific inventors as measured by utility patents granted. It does not include other types of invention, such as inventions that were never applied for nor granted, for which there is no known source. Nor does the table attempt to measure the significance of an inventor and their inventions. The significance of inventions is often not apparent until many decades after the invention has been made. For recent inventors, it is not yet possible to determine their place in history.

The common symbol for inventiveness, the light bulb, is an example. The first incandescent light bulb was invented by British chemist Sir Humphry Davy in 1802. Many subsequent inventors improved Davy's invention prior to the successful commercialization of electric lighting by Thomas Edison in 1880, 78 years later. Electric lighting continued to be developed. Edison's carbon filament light bulb was made obsolete by the tungsten filament light bulb, invented in 1904 by Sándor Just and Franjo Hanaman. It is this that forms the popular conception of a light bulb, though there are other major forms of lighting. The principle of fluorescent lights was known since 1845, and various inventors, including Edison and Nikola Tesla worked on them without commercial success. Various improvements were made by many other inventors, until General Electric introduced "fluorescent lumiline lamps" commercially in 1938, first available to the public at the 1939 World's Fair. LED lamps also have a long history, with the first light-emitting diode (LED) invented in 1927 by Oleg Losev. LEDs were initially of low brightness, and have been used as indicator lamps and seven-segment displays since 1968. It wasn't until the development of high efficiency blue LEDs by Shuji Nakamura in the 1980s that white LEDs for lighting applications became practical. Although higher cost than incandescent light bulbs, LEDs have higher efficiency and longer life and may finally displace light bulbs in general lighting applications. In each case, more than 50 years passed between the initial invention and commercial success in general lighting applications.

Various published lists

Rankings of prolific inventors have been published at various times. However, until the patent records were digitized, these lists were very tedious to prepare, as many thousands of patent records had to be checked manually. Even after digitization, it is still not a simple process. While the USPTO keeps statistics for annual rankings of inventions assigned to companies, it no longer publishes rankings of individual inventors. The last such list was published by the USPTO in 1998.^[16] Also, patents predating 1976 have not yet been digitized in the USPTO records. This means that patents before 1976 will not be included in a USPTO search by inventor name, and the number of patents granted before 1976 must be added to current searches.

Popular Science (1936)

In January 1936, Popular Science published a list of the "most prolific living inventors to be found in America today".^[46]

Rank	Inventor	U.S. Patents
1	John F. O'Connor	949
2	Elihu Thomson	696
3	Carleton Ellis	648
4	Henry A. Wise Wood	434
5	John Hays Hammond Jr.	360
6	Clyde C. Farmer	344
7	Ethan I. Dodds	321
8	Edward Weston	309

Thomas Edison was not included in the list, as he died in 1931, five years earlier.

Time Magazine (2000)

On December 4, 2000, Time Magazine published a list of the "top five inventors".^[2]

Rank	Inventor	U.S. Patents
1	Thomas Edison	1,093
2	Melvin De Groote	925
3	Francis H. Richards	894
4	Elihu Thomson	696
5	Jerome Lemelson	554

This list only included U.S. inventors, so omitted Canadian inventor George Albert Lyon, with 993 U.S. patents at the time of publication, Japanese inventor Shunpei Yamazaki, with 745 U.S. patents, and Béla Barényi, with 595 German patents. Also omitted were John F. O'Connor with 949 U.S. patents, and Carleton Ellis, with 753 U.S. patents at the time of publication.

USA Today (2005)

On December 13, 2005, USA Today published a list of "the top 10 living U.S. patent holders":^[7]

Rank	Inventor	U.S. Patents
1	Shunpei Yamazaki	1,432
2	Donald Weder	1,322
3	Kia Silverbrook	810
4	George Spector	723
5	Gurtej Sandhu	576
6	Warren Farnworth	547
7	Salman Akram	527
8	Mark Gardner	512
9	Heinz Focke	508
10	Joseph Straeter	477

This research was performed by ipIQ of Chicago (now "The Patent Board"^[362]) and 1790 Analytics^[363] of New Jersey. This list only considered living inventors, and thus did not include such prolific inventors as Thomas Edison, Melvin De Groote, and Elihu Thomson. This list included design patents, which are not patents for inventions.

Condé Nast Portfolio (2007)

On October 15, 2007, Condé Nast Portfolio Magazine published a list^[8] of "the world's most prolific inventors alive":

Rank	Inventor	U.S. Patents
1	Shunpei Yamazaki	1,811
2	Kia Silverbrook	1,646
3	Donald Weder	1,350
4	George Spector	722
5	Gurtej Sandhu	674
6	Leonard Forbes	671
7	Warren Farnworth	635
8	Salman Akram	612
9	Mark Gardner	515
10	Joseph Straeter	485

This research was performed by The Patent Board,^[362] a Chicago patent research and advisory firm.
As with the USA Today list, the Portfolio list only considered living inventors, and thus did not include such prolific inventors as Thomas Edison. This list also included design patents, which are not patents for inventions.

Business Insider (2011)

On May 6, 2011, Business Insider published an article titled: "The Ten Greatest Inventors In The Modern Era"^[4] containing the following list:

Rank	Inventor	U.S. Patents
1	Kia Silverbrook	3,847
2	Shunpei Yamazaki	2,061
3	Thomas Edison	1,084
4	George Albert Lyon	993
5	Paul Lapstun	969
6	Donald Weder	951
7	John F. O'Connor	949
8	Leonard Forbes	948
9	Melvin De Groote	925
10	Francis H. Richards	894

This list included living and dead inventors, and only included granted utility patents (patents for inventions).

Strutpatent.com (2012)

Strutpatent.com publishes a list of the "Top 10 Inventors" ^[9] listing inventors ranked by US patents (of all types) issued since 1990:

Rank	Inventor	U.S. Patents
1	Kia Silverbrook	4,279
2	Shunpei Yamazaki	1,664
3	Donald Weder	1,310
4	Paul Lapstun	1,098
5	Leonard Forbes	959
6	Gurtej Sandhu	728
7	Warren Farnworth	685
8	Salman Akram	653
9	Jay Walker	644
10	Chang-Hwan Hwang	634

This list included only patents granted since 1990, and includes design patents as well as utility patents.

Annual lists (2007–2012)

Strutpatent.com publishes weekly, monthly, and annual lists of the top ten categories, inventors and assignees of US patents since 2007. These lists include all patent types, not just patents for inventions (utility patents).

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2007:^[10]

Rank	Inventor	U.S. Patents
1	Kia Silverbrook	502
2	Audrey Goddard	232
3	William I. Wood	232
4	Austin L. Gurney	225
5	Chang-Hwan Hwang	203
6	Paul J. Godowski	193
7	Shunpei Yamazaki	139
8	Paul Lapstun	129
9	Leonard Forbes	120
10	Victoria Smith	112

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2008:^[11]

Rank	Inventor	U.S. Patents
1	Kia Silverbrook	576
2	Chang-Hwan Hwang	198
3	Audrey Goddard	168
4	Austin L. Gurney	167
5	William I. Wood	166
6	Paul J. Godowski	153
7	Shunpei Yamazaki	143
8	Paul Lapstun	137
9	Chang-Soo Lee	129
10	Victoria Smith	122

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2009:^[12]

Rank	Inventor	U.S. Patents
1	Kia Silverbrook	444
2	Shunpei Yamazaki	137
3	Paul Lapstun	113
4	Bartley K. Andre	92
5	Daniele De Iuliis	92
6	Jonathan Ive	92
7	Matthew Rohrbach	92
8	Richard P. Howarth	91
9	Duncan Robert Kerr	91
10	Leonard Forbes	91

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2010:^[13]

Rank	Inventor	U.S. Patents
1	Kia Silverbrook	709
2	Paul Lapstun	191
3	Shunpei Yamazaki	162
4	Simon Walmsley	115
5	Bartley K. Andre	114
6	Matthew Rohrbach	109
7	Richard P. Howarth	108
8	Jonathan Ive	108
9	Duncan Robert Kerr	108
10	Daniel J. Coster	106

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2011:^[14]

Rank	Inventor	U.S. Patents
1	Kia Silverbrook	754
2	Paul Lapstun	268
3	Shunpei Yamazaki	163
4	Hideo Ando	162
5	You Yoshioka	153
6	Scott H. Wittkopp	126
7	James M. Hart	125
8	Edward Jung	112
9	Simon Walmsley	112
10	Jay S. Walker	99

The top ten inventors of US patents for 2012:^[15]

Rank	Inventor	U.S. Patents
1	Kia Silverbrook	220
2	Edward Jung	180
3	Shunpei Yamazaki	172
4	Lowell Wood	169
5	Roderick Hyde	140
6	Bin Li	124
7	Royce Levien	122
8	Mark Malamud	119
9	Shunpei Yamazaki	118
10	John Rinaldo	117

This table omitted Rick Allen Hamilton II. The USPTO database shows Hamilton was an inventor or co-inventor of 128 US patents granted in 2012,^[364] which would place Hamilton at 6th rank for 2012.

Differences between lists

Differences in patent numbers between the various lists are due to several reasons:

• The lists were created on different dates. As many of the inventors in the lists are still active, the number of patents they hold are increasing.


• While the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the primary source for U.S. patent information, only patents issued since 1976 can be electronically searched by the inventor's name at the USPTO website. For some of the listed inventors, such as Thomas Edison, all of their patents predate 1976, so other sources must be used.


• Often entities list the worldwide total number of patents that they hold. This is not the same as the number of inventions, as a patent in one country may be for the same invention as a patent in another country. The set of patents covering a single invention in different countries is a Patent family.


• The Time, USA Today and Portfolio lists show the total number of U.S. patents, including patents for designs (Design patents) as well as patents for inventions (Utility patents).


• The annual lists from strutpatent.com list only those patents issued in the particular year to the inventor, not all of the inventor's patents.

See also

• Timeline of historic inventions


• List of inventors


• List of top United States patent recipients

References