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Toyota is boasting that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued more patents to it than any other automaker last year.
Not to be outdone, Honda and General Motors say they are the No. 1 and No. 2 leaders among automakers for fuel cell-technology patents.
While it may sound like industry oneupmanship, who's on top in filing patents actually matters a fair amount. Patents generally reflect automakers' successes in research and development and also signal their ability to create tomorrow's breakthroughs.
Toyota says a survey by the Intellectual Property Owners Association is the independent source for showing the company was granted 1,491 patents last year. And the automaker is picking up the pace: last year's total was 30% higher than the year before. Two engineers at its main U.S. research lab have earned 20 patents.
"Since the days of Toyota's founding, innovation has been a cornerstone of Toyota's success," Kristin Tabar, vice president of electrical systems engineering at Toyota Technical Center in Michigan, said in a statement in early July.
Other automakers counter that they're keeping pace in the patent race.
Read more http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/07/06/toyota-patents/2494151/
Not to be outdone, Honda and General Motors say they are the No. 1 and No. 2 leaders among automakers for fuel cell-technology patents.
While it may sound like industry oneupmanship, who's on top in filing patents actually matters a fair amount. Patents generally reflect automakers' successes in research and development and also signal their ability to create tomorrow's breakthroughs.
Toyota says a survey by the Intellectual Property Owners Association is the independent source for showing the company was granted 1,491 patents last year. And the automaker is picking up the pace: last year's total was 30% higher than the year before. Two engineers at its main U.S. research lab have earned 20 patents.
"Since the days of Toyota's founding, innovation has been a cornerstone of Toyota's success," Kristin Tabar, vice president of electrical systems engineering at Toyota Technical Center in Michigan, said in a statement in early July.
Other automakers counter that they're keeping pace in the patent race.
Read more http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/07/06/toyota-patents/2494151/
