[ChrisKnott]

I did an internship at IBM (~15 years ago) and they said that not only does IBM have the most patents, it tries to have the most patents awarded every year. You could just send half arsed ideas to a team of lawyers and they would write it up into a proper patent.

Getting patents in your name was a big part of moving up the internal engineering ladder.

[kitd]

Master Inventor is a title that still carries a lot of esteem in IBM, albeit not the financial perks any more.

[iancmceachern]

But what do they do with them all? Seemingly not much...

[caseyscottmckay]

It's a defensive strategy, so others cannot enforce vague patents against them.