The article evaluates how strong a company's patents are by looking at factors like how many patents they have, how widely they are used, and how often they are cited by others. The researchers studied the top 20 companies in the U.S. based on their patent applications. They found that by using a method called principal component analysis, they could measure the overall strength of a company's patents. This helps companies understand how innovative they are compared to others and make better decisions about their future innovation strategies.