Dow's innovation and patenting history is more than a century old.  One of the earliest and most significant patents in the chemical industry was issued to Dow's founder, H. H. Dow, in 1892 for bromine extraction. H. H. Dow was inducted into the U.S. National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1983.  Another Dow inventor, Otis Ray McIntire, was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2008 for his discovery of extruded polystyrene insulation.

Unlike many companies, our strategy is to seek patents that deliver distinct value in line with our business strategies and usefulness to the world, rather than maximizing the number of patents. 

Here are just a few of our patent distinctions:

• More than 18,000 granted U.S. patents since 1920.
• More than 10,000 active patents around the world.
• Annual disclosures of inventions submitted have nearly tripled since 2005 
• Annual priority patent applications filed have nearly doubled since 2005 
• One of the most cited U.S. patents, 5272236 relating to metallocene catalyzed polyethylene, was granted to Dow in 1993.
• A few of the widely-known Dow products covered by patents include:
  • Sentricon^® termite colony elimination system
  • IMPAXX™ energy absorbing foam for automobiles
  • STYROFOAM™ rigid foam insulation for construction and other applications