Wipro, TCS, RIL Among Top Patent Filers In US

Wipro, TCS, HCL, Infosys, Reliance Industries (RIL), Welspun Steel, Mahindra Rise and Bharat Petroleum top the list of India-domiciled companies creating intellectual property (IP) assets in the US.

These and other such firms filed over 4600 patents in the US between 2015 and 2018, according to a report by IT association Nasscom on IP creation. Nasscom used data from Questel Orbit Patent Database.

The report finds that the proportion of tech patents is rising. In 2017-2018, tech patents accounted for 65% of total patents — up from 51% in 2015. The 2017 and 2018 data is provisional, considering there is a window of about 18 months from the filing date to the publication date. Some of the patent applications filed in these two years may not have been disclosed in the public domain yet. For this reason, the report has combined the data for these two years.

Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, internet of things (IoT) and cloud computing accounted for over 50% of the tech patents filed in 2017-2018. AI is the frontrunner in the emerging technology space with over 300 patents filed for the 2015-2018 period. New applications areas include navigation, digital payments, logistics, text/data mining and cybersecurity. The non-tech patents are most in the areas of chemistry & chemical composition, pharma and mechanical & structural inventions.

Wipro has filed a patent related to generating a safe navigation path for a driverless vehicle. TCS has filed a patent for pest management, where the method/ system provides pest forecasting using historical pesticide usage information.

“As digital technologies become mainstream, companies are reinventing business models for the on-demand economy. IP creation is an important imperative and India is increasingly focused on building products and platforms,” the report said. Indian companies and startups filed 60% of the tech patents, while international companies in India accounted for 25% of them. Academics and researchers contributed the balance.―Times of India