Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 13, 1994 TAG: 9401130299
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
With Eastman Kodak Co. No. 4, experts in international competition say the new rankings are the latest indication that U.S. innovation has cracked Japan's seemingly indomitable lead.
"This means that the United States is back in the race to compete effectively in the global market," said Douglas Lamont, professor of international business at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Japanese companies still hold six out of the top 10 positions for the second year in a row, according to IFI-Plenum Data Corp., a Wilmington, N.C.-based research company that released the figures Wednesday.
But the inventiveness surge at International Business Machines Corp., a tarnished symbol of U.S. competitiveness, was viewed as a breakthrough in itself.
IBM said its 1,088 patented inventions last year - up 27 percent from 851 U.S. patents in 1992, when it ranked No. 6 - included high-repetition lasers, a folding computer keyboard and an environmentally safe solvent. Many of the patents were for software-related inventions.
Rochester, N.Y.-based Kodak had 1,008 patents last year, compared with 778 in 1992 when it ranked No. 7. The photographic and electronics company said its inventions included a new photographic film layer that improves picture quality and a medical testing technique that allows easier detection of diseases.
Japan has dominated the list of U.S. patents in the past decade by steadily beating U.S. companies with advances in semiconductors, supercomputers and other high-technology products.
But as the Japanese economy faltered in the 1990s, U.S. companies fought back with more efficient research and gains in productivity. In 1992, for example, U.S. semiconductor makers retook the lead on chip production for the first time in eight years. And in a defeat for Japanese computer leader NEC Corp., its major domestic competitors have started selling IBM-compatible computers.
Toshiba America Inc., the U.S. headquarters of Tokyo-based Toshiba Corp., said through a spokesman that it did not consider the patent ranking significant and that it was proud of coming in second on the list for the second year in a row.
IBM and Kodak said they are not spending more on research, but the money they spend is going toward inventions that have a better chance of turning up in products. Indeed, Armonk N.Y.-based IBM spent an estimated $1 billion less on research last year than in 1992, when it spent $6.5 billion.
\ TOP 10 NEW PATENT HOLDERS\ `93 Rank Company Number of patents Country '92 Rank\ 1. IBM; 1,088; U.S. 6\ 2. Toshiba Corp. 1,064 Japan 2\ 3. Canon Corp. 1,039 Japan 1\ 4. Eastman Kodak Co. 1,008 U.S. 7\ 5. Hitachi Ltd. 949 Japan 4\ 6. Mitsubishi Elec. 944 Japan 3\ 7. General Elec. 942 U.S. 5\ 8. Motorola Inc. 731 U.S. 8\ 9. Matsushita Elec. 722 Japan 10.\ 10. Fuji Photo Film Co. 634 Japan 9.
by CNB