Record year for patent awards

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Aug 20, 2004

National Semiconductor is claiming a record year for innovation, with 221 new US patents granted in the past 12 months.

National Semiconductor is claiming a record year for innovation.

The company was granted 221 US patents in fiscal year 2004 for a wide variety of product inventions and process innovations, the most it has received in a single year since it was founded in 1959.

Approximately one-third of all National patents are in analogue technologies, giving the company one of the largest portfolios of analogue patents in the semiconductor industry.

The balance of National's patent portfolio includes processing, device design, packaging, architecture and other key IC technologies.

"National Semiconductor has a long history of innovation", said Suneil Parulekar, Senior Vice President, Analogue Products Group, National Semiconductor.

"We are proud of our inventors, and strive to protect our substantial research and development investments with a strategic portfolio of patents that have significant business value".

With a portfolio of more than 2400 active and 700 pending patents, National maintains a strategic programme of protecting its research and development investment with patents.

Approximately 250 of National's current employees are holders of US patents.

National Semiconductor is number 87 on the Intellectual Property Owners (IPO) list of top patentees in the USA for calendar year 2003.

"In today's innovation economy, patents and intellectual property are the heart and soul of a successful technology company", Parulekar added.

"Our strategic patents in analogue, packaging, processing, device design and architecture will enable National to develop breakthrough technologies and successful products in the future".

National also has approximately 1300 active foreign patents, although a single US patent may have several foreign counterparts.

The company generally pursues patents in countries consistent with its markets, and has significant patent holdings in Germany, Taiwan, Korea and other countries.