Leggett & Platt Among Wall Street Journal’s Top 35 Innovative Companies

June 9, 2008  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Mattresses on June 2008 Leggett & Platt, Carthage, Mo., best known for its pioneering work in innerspring sleep surface technology, recently was named one of the Top 35 Innovative Companies by the Patent Board’s Consumer Products Patent Scorecard in partnership with The Wall Street Journal.

The last nine months at Leggett & Platt have seen the creation of the groundbreaking new Innovation, Design, Engineering and Acceleration (IDEA) Center for research and development, as well as the revolutionary Starry Night™ Sleep Technology Bed that debuted at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Leggett’s commitment to scientific advancement is communicated via its new tagline, “Innovation Redefined,” as well as its extensive patent portfolio. The company holds approximately 1,100 patents granted and has about 650 in process. In addition, it has registered almost 750 trademarks, with more than 200 in process associated with continuing operations.

According to the Consumer Products Patent Scorecard published in The Wall Street Journal’s Money & Investing section on May 6, Leggett & Platt ranks among the Top 35 Innovative Companies in the Consumer Products industry sector. Other companies listed alongside Leggett in the Top 35 for consumer products are Black & Decker, LG Electronics and Procter & Gamble Co.

“It is an honor to be listed among such distinguished company by The Wall Street Journal,” said Mark Quinn, group executive vice president of sales and marketing for Leggett & Platt’s bedding division.

The Consumer Products Patent Scorecard is primarily ranked by Technology Strength, a measure to indicate overall strength of the company’s patent portfolio holdings with a combined measure of quality and quantity. Of the 115 companies tracked in this sector, Leggett & Platt ranks in the top third of its industry, rating higher than 70 percent of its competitors.

In addition to Technology Strength, each company’s portfolio is judged on the number of U.S. patents granted in a given year. Taking into consideration the peaks and valleys in the patents granted process, the Patent Board tracks patents granted for a 13-week period and averages those findings into an approximate number of yearly patents granted. As recognized by the Consumer Products Patent Scorecard, Leggett has been granted 28 patents in the past year.

“This accolade speaks volumes about the technology being created by Leggett,” said Quinn. “It reflects Leggett’s position as a thought leader in the bedding industry, as well as the company’s revived commitment to superior research and development and our growing portfolio of innovative, high-performance products.”