Patenting in the food and beverage industry

Monday, 21 April, 2008

The Patent Scorecard reviews all patent activity in the food, beverages and tobacco industry sector and is published in The Wall Street Journal by The Patent Board, the leading independent provider of indicators, tools and metrics for patent analysis and intellectual property investing. The Patent Scorecard uses The Patent Board’s industry-standard data and proprietary analytical tools to assess patent value, and ranks companies worldwide in 17 industry sectors.

The number of patents issued in the food, beverages and tobacco (FBT) industry decreased by 9% over the last period and shows a lengthening innovation cycle time, according to The Patent Board. The FBT industry includes companies involved in the development and production of food, beverage or tobacco products such as additives, flavourings, ingredients, oils, seeds and livestock feed.

Food companies took six of the top 10 places in the list.

Ajinomoto Co Inc maintained its rank in the number two position with a 24% improvement in industry impact from .748 to .928. Ajinomoto is a producer of lysine and other amino and nucleic acids used in sweeteners, nutritional supplements, and animal feeds. The company’s brands include HON-DASHI flavour seasonings, Cook Do, AMOY sauces, and Knorr (Japan) soups.

Kraft Foods Inc increased its patenting by 4% but showed a decreased industry impact. Kraft expanded its foreign operations with the purchase of United Biscuits (Spanish and Portuguese), returning Nabisco trademarks to their IP arsenal and continued the foreign expansion with its 2007 purchase of the biscuit business of Groupe Danone.

Nestlé SA improved two positions to fifth due to a 17% increase in Industry Impact. Nestlé is known for chocolate, coffee, bottled water, baby formula, and pet food. Its most well-known global brands include Buitoni, Friskies, Maggi, Nescafé, Nestea, and Nestlé.

Dansco A/S is one of the world’s largest producers of food ingredients, which include antioxidants, emulsifiers, enzymes, flavours and fat replacer. It increased its patenting by 3% and increased its industry impact by 28%.

PepsiCo Inc and Cargill Inc both show declining patenting activity. PepsiCo is known for drinks, snacks, cereal, and pasta and rice dishes, with brands such as Tropicana orange juice, Gatorade sports drink, Aquafina water, Frito-Lay snacks, and Life breakfast cereal. Cargill did show improvement in science strength by 15%. While Cargill has a multitude of diversified operations, their patent focus is in food and agribusiness. In 2007, Cargill formed a 50-50 joint venture out of its NatureWorks subsidiary with Teijin, which is ranked 48th on The Patent Board’s Chemical Patent Scorecard dated 22 February 2008.

The top 10 innovators in Food, Beverages & Tobacco Patent Scorecard | Quarterly snapshot — 13-week averages were: