KBA North America proudly announces that Koenig & Bauer AG, its parent company, has seen its ranking soar to #11 among the top 50 in the annual update of The Patent Board’s Patent Scorecard for manufacturers of heavy industrial equipment. The prestigious ranking was published on January 13, 2012. Koenig & Bauer once again was the highest ranked printing press manufacturer in the top 50 annual update with the next printing press manufacturer 13 ranking points lower.

KBA moved into the 11^th position because its Technology Strength score increased. Technology Strength is the product of the granted patent count and the Current Impact score. Current Impact measures the citation frequency to a firm’s patent portfolio and compares it to the “average” patent portfolio. KBA’s Technology Score increased due to the improvement in both of its components of patent count, which increased from 49 patents to 60 patents, and its Impact Score, which increased from .7 to 1.0. Both increases helped to elevate the overall Technology Strength score and KBA’s ranking.

“We welcome this successful news as the year begins from this prestigious ranking,” says Mark Hischar, president and CEO of KBA North America. “We’re very proud of our technical team at KBA that has helped to make made our ranking soar and to be associated with other high profile firms in the ranking, such as John Deere and Caterpillar. Once again, our high ranking reflects our company’s consistent focus on innovation as a pioneer of press engineering for the past 195 years. KBA had the highest ranking of all press manufacturers. We’re very proud of our continuing lead in this prestigious ranking.”

The Patent Board’s Patent Scorecard is based on companies and private research firms that are grouped by their Patent Board technology strength ranking which is based on the scale, quality, impact, and nearness to core science of a company's patent-based intellectual property. This overall strength rating factors in both qualitative and quantitative aspects of a company's patent portfolio. The charts help to spot the leaders in each group and across the board. All indicators based on 13-week rolling averages.

KBA North America is located in Dallas, Texas and a member of the KBA Group. Established 195 years ago in Wuerzburg, Germany, Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) is the oldest and second largest press manufacturer worldwide. KBA's banner, 'People & Print', reflects its dual focus as a leading innovatorfor print entrepreneurs. The group's product range is the broadest in the industry; its portfolio includes commercial and newspaper web presses, sheetfed offset presses in all format classes, special presses for books, inserts, banknotes, securities, metal-decorating, smart cards, discs plus inkjet systems. For more information visit the company's web site at www.kba.com