Updated List of Top 15 (and then some) Financial Services Patent Owners
Below is an updated list of the top fifteen owners of patents related to financial services. American Express remains the industry leader. The biggest gainer was Bank of America, which jumped to second on the list, all the way from seventh a year ago.
Top 15 Financial Services Patent Owners
| 2013 Rank |
2012 Rank |
Change in Rank |
Company |
Patents |
| 1 |
1 |
— |
American Express |
363 |
| 2 |
7 |
+5 |
Bank of America |
217 |
| 3 |
2 |
-1 |
Visa |
215 |
| 4 |
4* |
— |
USAA |
211 |
| 5 |
3 |
-2 |
Citigroup |
155 |
| 6 |
5 |
-1 |
Goldman Sachs |
150 |
| 7 |
8 |
+1 |
The Hartford |
113 |
| 8 |
6 |
-2 |
Morgan Stanley |
103 |
| 9 |
10 |
+1 |
MasterCard |
70 |
| 10 |
9 |
-1 |
Capital One |
68 |
| 11 |
11 |
— |
FICO (Fair Isaac) |
59 |
| 12 |
NR |
— |
General Electric |
55** |
| 13 |
15 |
+2 |
Wells Fargo |
48 |
| 14 |
12 |
-2 |
JP Morgan Chase |
41 |
| 15 |
13 |
-2 |
Freddie Mac |
38 |
If you are aware of any financial services companies I should add to the list, please let me know. The list only includes assignments that appear on the faces of the patents and does not account for any assignments after the patents issued. For companies where I was aware of related entities, I combined results. For example, Citigroup includes Citibank and Citicorp, and Wells Fargo’s total includes four patents that were originally issued to Wachovia. Some companies use holding companies to own their patents whose names don’t match the parent company, which may explain some rather large companies appear not to have any assigned patents. The results are limited to patents in class 705–which relates to data processing in business and finance. So, if an insurance company had a mice problem and solved it by inventing a better mouse trap, that patent is not included in the list. The results are based on a search of the http://www.freepatentsonline.com database.
*Last year I missed a bunch of the USAA (United Services Automobile Association) patents—they should have ranked fourth last year as well.
**I should also note that I added General Electric to the list this year. The total patents I listed for GE does not represent all of their patents in class 705, because many of their patents in that class do not seem to relate to financial services. Instead, I limited the GE patents to those in the insurance, portfolio, and finance subclasses.
A complete list, totaling 75 companies, is provided after the break.
Complete 2013 List
| Rank |
Company |
Patents |
| 1 | American Express |
363 |
| 2 | Bank of America |
217 |
| 3 | Visa |
215 |
| 4 | USAA |
211 |
| 5 | Citigroup |
155 |
| 6 | Goldman Sachs |
150 |
| 7 | The Hartford |
113 |
| 8 | Morgan Stanley |
103 |
| 9 | MasterCard |
70 |
| 10 | Capital One |
68 |
| 11 | FICO (Fair Isaac) |
59 |
| 12 | General Electric |
55 |
| 13 | Wells Fargo |
48 |
| 14 | JP Morgan Chase |
41 |
| 15 | Freddie Mac |
38 |
| 16 | Experian |
37 |
| 17 | PNC |
36 |
| 18 | CBOE |
35 |
| 19 | Barclays |
34 |
| 20 | Merrill Lynch |
33 |
| 21 | Charles Schwab |
31 |
| 22 | Allstate |
31 |
| 23 | UBS |
30 |
| 24 | Genworth |
23 |
| 25 | Paypal |
22 |
| 26 | Prudential |
20 |
| 27 | Equifax |
12 |
| 28 | Ameritrade |
12 |
| 29 | AIG (American Int’l Group) |
11 |
| Bank of New York |
11 |
|
| 31 | Metropolitan Life (Met Life) |
10 |
| Credit Suisse |
10 |
|
| Lincoln |
10 |
|
| 34 | Aetna |
9 |
| Progressive |
9 |
|
| HSBC (Hong Kong Shanghai) |
9 |
|
| 37 | RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) |
8 |
| 38 | New York Life |
6 |
| 39 | Chicago Board of Trade |
5 |
| Fidelity Life |
5 |
|
| 41 | State Street |
4 |
| Safeco / Liberty Mutual |
4 |
|
| Mass Mutual |
4 |
|
| 44 | Standard & Poor’s |
3 |
| Discover |
3 |
|
| 46 | Allianz |
2 |
| Royal Bank of Scotland |
2 |
|
| 48 | Aviva |
1 |
| Nationwide |
1 |
|
| Moody’s |
1 |
|
| Deutsche Bank |
1 |
|
| TIAA-CREF |
1 |
|
| Sallie Mae |
1 |
|
| Transamerica / Aegon |
1 |
|
| 55 | Principal Financial Group |
0 |
| Pacific Life |
0 |
|
| Massachusetts Life |
0 |
|
| ING |
0 |
|
| Nomura |
0 |
|
| Dow Jones |
0 |
|
| GEICO |
0 |
|
| State Farm |
0 |
|
| Farm Bureau |
0 |
|
| Sun Life |
0 |
|
| Northern Trust |
0 |
|
| Raymond James |
0 |
|
| Jackson National |
0 |
|
| John Hancock |
0 |
|
| Thrivent |
0 |
|
| Mutual of Omaha |
0 |
|
| Dow Jones |
0 |
|
| AXA |
0 |
|
| Edward Jones |
0 |
|
| AFLAC |
0 |
|
| Berkshire Hathaway |
0 |
Financial Patents Blog 
A few additional notes and additions to the list:
Merrill Lynch was acquired by Bank of America, and ML’s patents should probably be included in BofA’s totals. BofA would still be in second, but its total would raise to 250 issued patents.
Prudential recently acquired Hartford’s individual life business. Most likely many of the Hartford’s patents also were transferred to Prudential, but I have not checked PTO records to verify if so, and how many.
A few companies I missed and should have included:
Ameriprise 20 issued patents (would rank 26th)
CarFax 12 issued patents (would rank 28th)
BlackRock 10 issued patents (would rank 33rd)
Guardian Life 6 issued patents (would rank 41st)
Northwestern Mutual 1 issued patent
WellPoint 1 issued patent