2006 was year of the patents as IBM itself received 3,651 patents

The last year saw a record number of patents awarded to companies. IBM led the pack with a record number of 3,651 patents received.

The company has been securing the top spot since the last 14 years.

Samsung Electronics was the second most active company in this run and won 2,453 patents. Canon received 2,378 patents and they were the third on the list released by IFI Patent Intelligence.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Hewlett-Packard completed the top five with both companies receiving more than 2000 patents.

The year 2006 saw 173,772 patents being issued. However, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) said that the approval rate for new patents was at its lowest at 54 percent.