The IEEE Spectrum Patents Scorecard

There have been quite a few attempts to measure patent strength or productivity for countries or companies. One I hadn't seen before is the 2008 IEEE Spectrum Patents Scorecard.

It takes American patents granted in 2007 and ranks the top 20 companies within 17 technology areas for their "overall patent power", using formulae explained at the bottom of the table. It's always interesting to see new ideas in measuring patents.

Rather confusingly, the page opens with the table for the aerospace category and you have to click on other sectors to see their own top twenty. Having a lot of patents isn't crucial to get a good score (have a look at the pharmaceuticals sector, where a small British company is second). 

The site has an interesting article, Patent prowess, discussing some highlights from the data, which was analysed by 1790Analytics.