IBM tops patent list

By Dan McLean

January 19, 2008
Bolstered by employee efforts at IBM's Essex Junction plant, IBM earned the top spot in the U.S. patent rankings for the 15th consecutive year.

Not only does the Essex Junction facility have IBM's most prolific inventor, but the facility ranked third among the 41 states with IBM patents last year, IBM spokesman Jeff Couture said.

The Vermont facility, for example, helped invent a sensor designed to make it easier for digital cameras to take brighter and sharper pictures, he said.

In 2007, the Essex Junction facility was responsible for 357 patents, or more than 11 percent of IBM's total of 3,125 patents for the year.

Edward Nowak, an engineer and technology strategy manager for Essex Junction's semiconductor solutions organization, earned the most invention patents -- 33 -- of any IBM inventor in 2007, Couture said. Nowak, who started working at the Essex Junction facility in 1981, could not be reached for comment Friday.

The Essex Junction facility employs about 5,700 people and is one of IBM's two U.S. sites that designs and manufactures semiconductors, Couture said.

Patents developed throughout all of IBM facilities last year include technologies engineered to allow convenient and secure ATM transactions conducted by cell phone, customizing the same movie for different audiences, enabling portable devices to go longer between battery recharges and faster video game consoles for more realistic action.
Contact Dan McLean at 651-4877 or dmclean@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com