IBM Does Not Correlate Patents and Revenue

January 12, 2017

I read “IBM Achieves Record Number of U.S. patents in 2016, 24th Straight Year of Patent Dominance.” I learned that Big Blue, the owner of the Watson things, “earned a total of 8,088 U.S. patents last year at a rate of 22 patents per day…” Impressive. I checked IBM’s financial performance and verified that the company has reported its 18th consecutive quarter of declining revenue. It certainly seems that generating top line revenue growth is not correlated with filing patents. What is correlated is the overhead cost of preparing patent documents. Less stressful than making sales I believe. I respond to revenue dominance, not lawyering. But that’s my Harrod’s Creek shortsightedness.

Stephen E Arnold, January 12, 2017

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