This study will examine whether patents have an effect on customer satisfaction, specifically studying the smartphone industry. The first section of the thesis will focus on the background of patents and whether they are effective in their goal of innovation. A brief discussion of the infamous Apple v. Samsung case will provide some insight into the cost of maintaining the patents. This section will also discuss customer satisfaction and the effect it has on a company’s financial performance. The second section will conduct an empirical analysis between customer satisfaction and patents. Using a correlation study between the number of smartphone patents each year for Samsung, Apple, LG and Motorola, and comparing that to the respective customer satisfaction rating, this thesis finds that there appears to be a correlation between the two. The thesis then concludes with an interpretation of these results and suggestions for continuing to improve the research.