For the nineteenth consecutive year, IBM has been granted more US patents than any other company. But its 2011 performance set a new record of 6180 US patents granted.

Samsung took second place with 4894, and Canon was third with 2821. The only top ten US patent recipient not based in Asia was Microsoft, which came sixth with 2311 patents granted.

Other US based IT companies were well behind: HP (1308), Intel (1244), Oracle (including Sun, 918), Apple (676), EMC (282), Symantec (276), Amazon (192) and Accenture (127).

More than 8000 IBM employees contributed to the company's patent haul, with non-US resident contributing to 26% of the year's patents.

"IBM's commitment to invention and scientific exploration is unmatched in any industry and the results of this dedication to enabling innovation is evidenced in our nearly two decades of U.S. patent leadership," said Ken King, general manager of intellectual property and vice president for research business development at IBM.

"The inventions we patent each year deliver significant value to IBM, our clients and partners and demonstrate a measurable return on our approximately $6 billion annual investment in research and development," he added.