The top patent earner in Oregon 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 Oregon 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.

Nike Inc. was the top patent-earner in Oregon last year. It was issued 894 patents from the USPTO within the state, comprising 83.8% of all patents considered for the statewide analysis. Athletic-wear brand Nike patents each of its shoe designs with the USPTO to stave off competition duplicating its designs. Despite the designer's passing in 2021, the firm is still receiving patents for shoes attributed to Virgil Abloh as recently as 2022.

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 Oregon last year.

#10. Oregon Health & Science University
- Patents issued: 11

#8. Oregon State University (tie)
- Patents issued: 13

#8. Biamp Systems, LLC (tie)
- Patents issued: 13

#6. Hyster-Yale Group, Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 15

#6. Benchmade Knife Co., Inc. (tie)
- Patents issued: 15

#5. Tektronix, Inc.
- Patents issued: 18

#4. Monolithic 3D, Inc.
- Patents issued: 22

#3. Digimarc Corp.
- Patents issued: 29

#2. Fei Co.
- Patents issued: 37

#1. Nike, Inc.
- Patents issued: 894