The top patent earner in Georgia last year

Tech and engineering firms were the most inventive patent winners across the U.S. last year—a year marked by growing tension with foreign nations racing to bring world-changing tech like artificial intelligence and space satellites to market.

Nearly 160,000 patents were assigned across the U.S. in 2022, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. When a patent is awarded through the USPTO, the individual or company that it's given to has the license to a temporary monopoly on business for that specific product or service. Companies have used patent law for decades to defend their intellectual property—including designs and devices against competitors that might attempt to profit off of stolen ideas.

ClickUp used data from the Patent and Trademark Office to find the top patent earner in Georgia based on the number of patents assigned in USPTO's fiscal year 2022, which ran from Oct. 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2022. This analysis was part of a broader national report on the top patent earner in every state. The data looks at the assignees for both regular utility and design patents and was limited to assignees that received at least 10 patents within the year.

AT&T was the top patent-earner in Georgia last year. It was issued 527 patents from the USPTO within the state, comprising 37.3% of all patents considered for the statewide analysis. The telecom giant is one of the most prolific patent earners in the nation. It earned patents in 2022 for edge computing and for automated assistants that are capable of delegating tasks dictated by the user.

Nationally, the vast majority of top patent earners last year were private organizations. Private spending on research and development by U.S. companies has skyrocketed since the economic downturn of the late 2000s. In 2020, it was estimated to total $531 billion, according to the latest available data from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. But nine colleges and universities rose to the top in their respective states for patent filing, as well.

Read on to see who else scooped up the rights to the most cutting-edge tech in Georgia last year.

#28. Mirus LLC (tie)
- Patents issued: 10

#28. Equifax, Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 10

#25. Morehouse School of Medicine (tie)
- Patents issued: 12

#25. American Megatrends International (tie)
- Patents issued: 12

#25. Airwatch LLC (tie)
- Patents issued: 12

#24. Home Depot Product Authority, LLC
- Patents issued: 13

#23. AGCO Corp.
- Patents issued: 15

#22. Southwire Co.
- Patents issued: 16

#21. Mueller International, LLC
- Patents issued: 19

#20. Avent, Inc.
- Patents issued: 20

#19. University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.
- Patents issued: 21

#18. Gpcp IP Holdings LLC
- Patents issued: 22

#17. WestRock Co.
- Patents issued: 26

#15. Emory University (tie)
- Patents issued: 28

#15. Cox Communications, Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 28

#14. Landis+Gyr
- Patents issued: 30

#11. Verint Americas, Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 32

#11. United Parcel Service of America, Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 32

#11. Rheem Manufacturing Co. (tie)
- Patents issued: 32

#9. Graphic Packaging International (tie)
- Patents issued: 33

#9. Fox Factory, Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 33

#8. Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.
- Patents issued: 36

#7. The Coca-Cola Co.
- Patents issued: 40

#6. Georgia Tech Research Corp.
- Patents issued: 43

#5. OneTrust, LLC
- Patents issued: 48

#4. ABL IP Holding LLC
- Patents issued: 55

#3. NCR Corp.
- Patents issued: 67

#2. Arris Enterprises
- Patents issued: 141

#1. AT&T
- Patents issued: 527