"IBM does X" is pleasing to look at, but remember one person decided to make it happen. One person said "hey, I want to patent this idea" and everybody else go

"IBM does X" is pleasing to look at, but remember one person decided to make it happen. One person said "hey, I want to patent this idea" and everybody else got in line to help make it happen. IBM has a patent culture. It encourages each employee to file as many patents as possible. When you submit a patent internally, you get a one-time bonus. When it goes from the internal lawyers to the patent office, you get another bonus. When your patent is awarded months or years later, you get another one-time bonus. If you file a certain number of patents, you get a certificate/plaque and more money. (true story) On the internal IBM blogs, I saw someone was frustrated by their email software. Their immediate response? File a patent for how they want it fixed. Their problem? They hit "send" by mistake before the email was complete. Their patent? A yes/no confirmation popup after hitting send. Another way to look at the "IBM has more patents than god" issue is from a per-employee financial standpoint. Their employees may need extra cash, so they are filing patents as fast as possible.