WASHINGTON – the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued its 10 millionth patent Tuesday.
The patent – issued to Raytheon, a expertise firm that makes a speciality of protection, civil and cybersecurity – was for a new kind of ladar invented by one of the tech large's workers.
"The inventor is Joseph Marron, a Raytheon employee," mentioned White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters. "The patent is for a coherent ladar system using intra-pixel quadrature detection, which is a type of laser-based object detection used in numerous industries including autonomous vehicles, medical imaging, space and undersea exploration."
The tech business receives a good portion of patents, with IBM rounding out the highest with 9,043 patents in 2017.
Other firms, like Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Google, Qualcomm, and Samsung, have been granted greater than 2,000 patents final 12 months.
A patent grants unique rights and licensing and prevents others from creating or promoting an invention.
The first US patent, signed by George Washington, was issued again in 1790 to Samuel Hopkins for "the making of potash and pearl ash," an ingredient utilized in fertilizer.
"Innovation has been the lifeblood of this country since its founding," Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross mentioned. "Our patent system's importance to the daily lives of every American has never been greater. Given the rapid pace of change, we know that it will not take another 228 years to achieve the next 10-million-patent milestone."