What Did The Patent Landscape of Microsoft Look Like?

Microsoft is a multinational technology corporation that develops, licenses and sells software, consumer electronics, and personal computers. It was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975, and is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. The company is best known for its Windows operating system and Microsoft Office software suite, but it also offers a range of other products and services, including cloud computing solutions, gaming devices, and mobile devices. With a market capitalization of over $2 trillion, Microsoft is one of the largest and most influential companies in the technology industry.

Microsoft has a total of 55797 patents globally. Out of 55797 patents, 24029 patents are active. 

Have a look at some of the most well-known patents held by Microsoft that we have covered in this article. You can also get information on Microsoft’s patents, the global patent filing activity country-wise, its historical patent filing trends, and many more statistics regarding Microsoft’s patent portfolio. 

What Did The Patent Landscape Of Microsoft Look Like?

This chart shows the number of applications filed and the number of grants from these applications. Grant rate is a good indicator to identify successful applications and the graph helps to understand the progress in the technology area.

Detailed Patent Portfolio Of Microsoft

Publication Type	Simple Legal Status	Legal State	Count of Publications
APPLICATION	DEAD	DISCONTINUATION	8197
		LAPSED	5504
		NON-PAYMENT	3216
		WITHDRAWN	1518
		REJECTED	728
		CEASED	628
		EXPIRED	525
		ABANDONED	308
	ACTIVE	GRANTED	10287
	PENDING	EXAMINATION	1069
	PENDING	PUBLISHED	625
	UNDETERMINED	UNDETERMINED	308
PATENT	ACTIVE	GRANTED	9895
	ACTIVE	RESTORATION	308
	DEAD	NON-PAYMENT	3749
		EXPIRED	3254
		CEASED	1009
		WITHDRAWN	308
		REJECTED	308
	PENDING	EXAMINATION	308
DESIGN	ACTIVE	GRANTED	2943
	DEAD	EXPIRED	1681
	DEAD	NON-PAYMENT	308
OTHERS	ACTIVE	GRANTED	308
OTHERS	DEAD	NON-PAYMENT	308
UTILITY MODEL	DEAD	EXPIRED	308
UTILITY MODEL	ACTIVE	GRANTED	308

Technology Domain-wise Patent Trend in Microsoft

The chart above distributes patents filed till 2021 in Microsoft on the basis of the technology protected in patents. This helps to understand the most frequently used concepts and the key focus areas in the technology space.

Top Publications In The Domain With Their Forward Citation Frequency

The table below depicts the patents with most number of forward citations. These patents are likely to be the source of advancement in the domain and can be considered as valuable and core inventions.

Publication Number	Year Wise Break Down					Count of Citing Patents
Publication Number	< 2006	2006-2010	2011-2015	2016-2020	>2020	Count of Citing Patents
US-6698020-B1	286	617	728	480	200	2311
US-6385596-B1	363	586	561	430	120	2060
US-6310610-B1	14	217	565	876	233	1905
US-5883810-A	378	550	410	362	172	1872
US-5616876-A	198	484	468	404	100	1654
US-6052735-A	187	385	502	387	170	1631
US-5774668-A	417	443	404	264	79	1607
US-5875108-A	230	342	545	333	48	1498
US-5815665-A	442	455	335	175	30	1437
US-5915001-A	425	378	319	244	25	1391

Who Were The Leading Patent Filers Countries Till 2021 In Microsoft?

IPC Classification Wise Patent Trend In Microsoft

The table below represents the top 10 market domains according to their IPC classification where inventors believed it was critical to safeguard certain technical inventions.

IPC Classification	Number of Applications	Number of Granted	% Granted
ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (G06F)	31980	11764	37
TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (H04L)	8201	3279	40
DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS OR METHODS, SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORY OR FORECASTING PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORY OR FORECASTING PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR (G06Q)	4419	1059	24
PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION (H04N)	3307	1344	41
IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL (G06T)	2728	1241	45
SPEECH ANALYSIS OR SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING (G10L)	2559	1208	47
RECOGNITION OF DATA; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS (G06K)	2107	841	40
COMPUTER SYSTEMS BASED ON SPECIFIC COMPUTATIONAL MODELS (G06N)	1814	463	26
WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (H04W)	1645	662	40
TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (H04M)	1580	739	47

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