The U.S. has transitioned to an innovation based economy with intellectual property (IP) taking center stage. Eighty percent (80%) of company value is comprised of intangible assets, according to the Ocean Tomo Intangible Asset Market Value Study released earlier this year. One of the largest components of value, corporate intangibles can often be traced directly to the women and men responsible – the inventors holding the most significant patents.

Today is the perfect opportunity to celebrate such individual innovative achievement as April 26^th has been designated “World IP Day” by member states to the World Intellectual Property Organization.

James E. Malackowski, Chairman and CEO of Ocean Tomo noted that “the 2011 World IP Day theme, Designing the Future, provides an ideal backdrop to our efforts to raise awareness for the essential role inventors’ play in the creation and advancement of business enterprise.”

Ocean Tomo, the leading intellectual capital merchant banc^™ firm, today released the results of its Ocean Tomo Patent Quality Inventor Study, ranking the top three inventors within four technology sectors: wireless, biotech, industrials and semiconductors. Requiring only a minimum of five issued patents, the ranking is based on the average patent IPQ^® score for each inventor’s 2010 issued and active U.S. patents within noted U.S. Patent Office Classifications. Ocean Tomo PatentRatings^® IPQ scores objectively rate patent assets based on a proven statistical methodology, with a median score being 100.

In Wireless, the top rated inventor with 16 patents in USPC 455, 370 & 375 is John Christopher Harvey. These patents have an average IPQ score of 235.7 which puts his patents in the top 0.1% of the approximate 220,000, active U.S. utility patents granted in 2010.

In Biotech, Travis Mickle is the top rated inventor. The 16 patents that fall within USPC 435 and 436 have an average IPQ score of 185.1. This average lands his patents in the top 1% of all active U.S. utility patents.

In Industrials, Stephen Brown was the top Inventor with 7 patents in USPC 324, 318 and 060. Having an average IPQ score of 159.4 places those 7 patents in the top 6% of all active U.S. utility patents.

In Semiconductors, Howard Rhodes is the top inventor with 16 patents in USPC 438, 257 and 365. With an average IPQ score of 149.1, his 16 patents rank among the top 9% of all active U.S. utility patents.

A summary of the study results is available for download at PatentRatings.com. 

Steve Lee, Ocean Tomo Managing Director responsible for the firm's PatentRatings practice, explains, "The study shows that the top 2010 inventors for these technologies are truly exceptional innovators as they’ve not only contributed multiple inventions in highly competitive and valuable technology fields, but their patents are also of very high quality, some as high as within the top 1% of all rated patents, making them the most valuable inventors of 2010.”

The Ocean Tomo PatentRatings^® system is the first market-validated software platform for objectively assessing patent quality, relative value, and competitive trends for patents, patent portfolios, companies, and technology sectors. The Ocean Tomo PatentRatings^® System uses a patented method of patent quality valuation, (USP 6,556,992 7,657,476 and 7,716,226 ) that is statistically based calculating the relative quality of all patents issued by the U.S. Patent Office since 1976 using more than 50 independent and objective factors that are correlated to patent value.

About Ocean Tomo, LLC
Established in 2003, Ocean Tomo, LLC, is the leading Intellectual Capital Merchant Banc^™ firm. The company provides financial products and services related to Intellectual Property, including expert testimony, valuation, research, ratings, investments, risk management and transactions. Ocean Tomo assists clients – corporations, law firms, governments and institutional investors – in realizing Intellectual Capital Equity^® value broadly defined.

Headquartered in Chicago, Ocean Tomo has offices in Boston, Greenwich, Orange County, Paris, and San Francisco. Subsidiaries of Ocean Tomo include: Ocean Tomo Risk Management, LLC; Ocean Tomo Asset Management, LLC; OTI Data Networks, LLC; Patent Marking, LLC; and Ocean Tomo Capital, LLC – publisher of the Ocean Tomo 300^® Patent Index family. Ocean Tomo is the founder and majority owner of the Intellectual Property Exchange International (IPXI), Inc. as well as the exclusive licensee and distributor of PatentRatings^® system. 

About the Ocean Tomo PatentRatings^® System

The Ocean Tomo PatentRatings^® system is the first proven, market-validated software platform for objectively assessing patent quality, relative valuation, and competitive trends for patents, patent portfolios, companies, and technology sectors. The PatentRatings^® system provides customizable data solutions and delivers actionable data to companies, investors, bankers, attorneys and other intellectual property professionals and decision makers. Ocean Tomo PatentRatings^® provides an unparalleled understanding of patent quality, technology implications, and strategic insight. Visit PatentRatings.comfor more information about data subscriptions or individual reports.