<p>Seven universities, led by the University of California system, were among the 300 organizations awarded the most United States patents in 2009, according to a compilation by the Intellectual Property Owners Association. The 10-campus UC system ranked 83rd on the list, with 251 patents. It was followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (ranked 153rd, with 134 patents), the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which manages patents for the University of Wisconsin at Madison (173rd, with 115 patents), Stanford University (178th, with 110 patents), the University of Texas (191st, with 98 patents), the California Institute of Technology (198th, with 93 patents), and the University of Illinois (266th, with 65 patents). The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ceased compiling rankings three years ago to avoid the perception that it was endorsing the theory that more patents were better, but the association said such a list is at least one objective measure of the patent system.</p>