IBM's Astonishing Patent Strategy Shows Where It's Going Next; Nasdaq, 12/23/16

Prableen Bajpai, Nasdaq; IBM's Astonishing Patent Strategy Shows Where It's Going Next:

"IBM (IBM) is set to top the list of patent holders for the 24th year in a row in the U.S. This is no ordinary feat. IBM is the only company to have ever exceeded over 7,000 U.S. patent grants during a single year. During 2016 year-to-date, IBM has already crossed the 7,000-patent mark for the third consecutive year.

Against this backdrop, IBM is fundamentally reorganizing its business, leaving behind the image of ‘hardware, software, services’ company to emerge as a leader in ‘cognitive solutions and cloud computing.’ Here’s a look at how IBM is transforming its business, changing its patent portfolio and re-inventing to be IBM 2.0...

Patents are like the seeds of technological innovations that were planted years ago with a futuristic vision in mind. IBM has been active in doing so and what we see today in practice are the saplings. The real rewards will come with time but IBM is making sure that it keeps planting those seeds for the future."