Table Of Contenta H53
9i.
:
Highlights
in
Patent
Activity
^
^ADEV^
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office
^HBM
Highlights
in
Patent
Activity
\
states o** *^dew^
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
U.S.
BarbaraHackmanFranklin
Secretary
Patentand TrademarkOffice
Douglas B. Comer
ActingAssistantSecretary
andActingCommissionerofPatents and Trademarks
October 1992
^^M i
^M
Contents
Highlights in Patent Activity 1971-1991 1
Sources ofPatent Data at the USPTO 2
Trends in Patent Activity--U.S. Inventors 3
Applications and Grants 3
Ownership 4
Geographic Distribution ofPatent Activity-
All U.S. Resident Inventors 4
Independent Inventors 5
Trends in Patent Activity-Foreign Inventors
Who Patent in the United States 8
Applications and Grants 8
Foreign Ownership 9
Sources ofForeign PatentActivity in the United States 9
Technological Emphasis ofPatent Activity 10
Financing the United States Patent System 12
Patent Operating Costs 13
Patent Application Filingand Issue Fees 14
Maintenance Fees 15
Comparative Cost of Patenting in the United States, Europe and Japan 17
Summary 18
Appendix Tables 19
Highlights in PatentActivity
Highlights in Patent Activity 1971-1991
The UnitedStates PatentandTrademarkOffice Figure 1.
(USPTO) has been challenged duringthe past Application Filings and Patent Grants,
two decades by significant growth in patent U.S. Inventors, Rates per 100,000 U.S.
activity and the impact of this growth on USPTO
Population, 1971-1991
operations. Adramaticriseinthepatentactivityof
U.S. inventors and foreign inventors who obtain
patent protection in the United States has resulted
in a 60 percent increase in the number of patent 40t
applicationfilings. Morethan 164,000utilitypatent 35-
applications are now filed each yearatthe USPTO,
30- Applications/^
compared to only 105,000 applications in 1971.1 \
\
In response to this growth, the USPTO increased £3 25- ^-^
staff and reduced the average length of time re- <§. 20- ..-
quired to examine a patent application from 24 S /
months to 18 months. Mzyor changes to the Qo_ 15- " Grants
financial aspects of obtaining a patent have re- ID-
sulted inthe successful implementation ofamain- S'
tenance fee structure, similar to other countries,
that provides for continued patent protection for 1971 19I75 197iI9 198II3 19Ii87 199iI1
the 17-year life of the patent. Today, the cost of
obtaining and maintaining a patent in the United
Statescontinuestobemostcompetitivecompared
to other countries. IndependentInventors Continue to Playa Major
RoleIn U.S. Patenting.
Patent activity of U.S inventors and foreign
inventors who patent in the United States is high- The numberofpatentsgranted to independent
lighted in this section. References to figures and U.S. inventors increased by more than 70 percent
appendix tables in succeeding sections are also from 7,561 patents in 1983 to 13,193 patents in
provided. 1991. While U.S. corporations continue to receive
nearly three-fourths of utility patent grants for U.S.
Since 1984 thepatentactivityofU.S. inventorshas inventions, independent inventors have increased
dramaticallyrisen tonearrecordlevels. theirshareofutilitypatentgrantsfrom23percentin
1983to 26 percentin 1991 (seeAppendixTableA-
In 1990 and 1991, the per capita application 2.) 3
filingratesbyresidentsoftheUnitedStateswerethe
highestin 20years.2 Morethan 36 patentapplica- Patentactivityin the UnitedStates increasedin
tions per 100,000 U.S. population were filed in moststatesbetween 1971 and 1991.
1990 and slightly less than 35 applications per
100,000 were filed byU.S. residents in 1991. The Theconcentrationofpatentactivityincreasedin
resurgence in patent activity since 1984 follows a 32 states between 1971 and 1991; 12 of these
general decline in patenting from 1971 to 1983 states were located in the south and 9 others were
when only25 applications per 100,000 U.S. popu- located in the west. Independent inventor activity
lation were filed. (See Figure 1.) has also become more prevalent in the western
—
1 Utilitypatentsaregrantedforinventions about92percentof 2 TheidentificationofU.S. versusforeign inventionsis basedon
patentgrantsareutilitypatents. Othertypesofpatentdocuments theresidenceofthefirst-named inventor. Domestic, U.S. patent
include plant, design, and reissue patents, plusStatutoryInven- activity includes applications and grants with the first-named
tion Registrations. This report only describes trends in utility inventora resident ofthe United States.
patent activity. 3 Patentactivityofindependentinventorsrepresentspatentsthat
wereeitherunassignedorassignedtoanindi\idualatthetimeof
issue.
Highlights in PatentActivity
UnitedStateswhere7 outof9stateswith higherconcen- mid-1970's, notable increases in activity by inven-
trations of independent inventor activity are located. tors from other Asian countries have occurred
(See Figures 3 and 4.) recently. The UnitedStatesgranted morethan400
patents to South Korean inventors in 1991, com-
Thecostofobtainingapatentin the UnitedStatesis pared to only 45 patents granted in 1986. During
mostfavorablecomparedto thecostofobtaininga thesametimeperiod,thenumberofpatentsgranted
patentIn othermajorpatentingcountries. to Taiwanese inventors grew from 208 patents to
more than 900 patents. (SeeAppendixTableA-5.)
The cost (as ofOctober 1992) ofobtaining a utility
patent and maintaining patent protection forthe life of Thetechnologicalemphasisofpatentgrants to U.S.
the grant is approximately $7,500 in the United States, inventorsandtoinventors from themajorforeign
comparedto$7,866inJapan. Considerablyhighercosts patentingcountriesisonleadingedge technology.
are associated with patenting in the European Patent
Office (EPO). Typical filing, issueand maintenance fees Thesetechnologies include biotechnology, chemis-
foran EPOpatentcan rangefrom$12,883forprotection try, communications, informationsystems, andaeronau-
in one designated European country to $34,218 for tics. However, technologies that are emphasized by
protection inthreedesignated Europeancountries. (See inventors from one country are less likelyto be empha-
Figure 13.) Despite recent increases in the cost of sized by inventors from other countries. For example,
obtaining and maintaining a U.S. patent, there has not information storage and retrieval technologies are more
beenanysustained, negativeimpactonpatentactivityin emphasized by Japanese inventors who patent in the
the United States. United States than by inventors from other countries.
(See Figure 7.)
Nearlyhalfofallutilitypatentsareforinventionsby
residentsofforeignnations whoapplyforpatent About83percentofutilitypatentsremainin force
protectionin the UnitedStates.4 followingpaymentofa fouryearmaintenancefee.
In 1971, only 29 percent of all utility patents were Utility patent protection typically lasts for 17
granted to residents of foreign countries; by 1991 this years. However, patent owners are required to
figure had grown to 47 percent. Thisgrowth reflectsthe make periodicmaintenance fee paymentstomain-
increasingimportanceofinternationaltradeandthehigh tain this protection past4, 8 and 12 years from the
value placed on United States markets. Because patent date of issue. About 83 percent of utility patents
rightsdonotconveyfromonecountrytoanother, foreign remainin forceafter4yearsand63percentremain
inventorsare likelytoobtain patentprotection in several in force after 8 years. (See Figure 11.)
countries, particularly if the invention has significant
commercialvalueinthosecountries. Byobtainingpatent Sources of
protectionintheUnitedStates,theforeignownerhasthe
USPTO
right to exclude all others from making, using orselling Patent Data at the
the patented invention in the United States. Foreign
inventorswhoseekpatentprotectionintheUnitedStates The USPTO maintains one ofthe largest, most
are more likelyto resideinJapan, Germany, the United comprehensive collections of technological litera-
Kingdom, France, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden or ture in the world. More than 5 million patents
the Netherlands. (See Appendix Tables A-l and A-5.) granted by the United States comprise a virtually
continuous record of new invention and discovery
ThecountriesofAsiashowincreasinglevelsof that covers more than 200 years of United States
patentactivityIn the UnitedStates. history.
While Japanese inventors have dominated for- The who, what, where and when of each new
eign patent activity in the United States since the invention are disclosed in patent grants that span
4Trendsin foreign patentactivityare notnecessarilyrepresenta-
tiveofallcountries,sinceforeignpatentingintheUnitedStatesis
dominated by Japan, which received 46 percent of all foreign
patents granted in 1991. Many other countries have shown
decreasedactivityintheUnitedStatesatvarioustimes;however,
thisisnotreadilyapparentfromtrendsintotal foreign patenting,
due tothestrength and growth ofJapanese patenting.
U.S. Patentand Trademark Office
1
the entire spectrum oftechnology. As technology functions is available to the general public.5
continuestoexpand, patentgrantsareaddedtothe
USPTO collection at the rate of nearly 100,000 MoniFtionralilnyg, (tPhAeLMP)asteynstteAmppisliucsaetdiobnyatnhde ULSoPcaTtOiotno
patents peryear.
trackthestatusand location ofpatentapplications.
Traditionally, the patent collection has served The TAF data base, APS and PALM are the primary
the information needs ofinventors, theirattorneys sources of data used to identify the patent activity
andagents,andpatentexaminersinvolvedindeter- trends described in this report.
miningthepatentabilityofnewinventions. In more
recentyears, however, thepatentfilehasbecomea
valuable resource for a much larger community of Trends in Patent Activity-U.S.
users who research patent data from a decidedly
Inventors
different perspective. Within numerous academic
andprofessionaldisciplines,thereisgrowingrecog-
nition that trends in patent activity, observed over Trends in patent application filings and grants
time and involving large numbers of patents, can showthetechnologicaloutputofU.S. inventors has
indicate a great deal about the status ofsocial and steadily increased during the past decade. The
economicforcesthatguideandinfluencetheinven- record numbers ofpatent applications received by
tive process. the USPTO in three of the past four years are a
testament to the increase in inventive activity that
The development of computerized data bases
has occurred amongindependentaswell as corpo-
and retrieval systems at the USPTO has stimulated
analysis of trends in patent activity and technical rateinventors. Equallyimportantistheobservation
development. Enormous quantities ofpatent data that inventive activity is increasing in geographic
have now become readily available for analysis. regions of the country not previously considered
centers of technological development. Trends in
Threedatabasesin particularhaveassistedthe applicationsandgrants,ownership, andgeographic
USPTO in its mission to administer patent law, to distribution of U.S. inventors are described in this
disseminatepatentdataandtofurtherthecompeti- section.
tivenessoftheUnitedStatesintheworldtechnology
market. USPTO's TechnologyAssessmentForecast
ApplicationsandGrants.
program (TAF)databasecontainsbibliographicand
status information on U.S. patents issued since The per capita increase in U.S. inventor patent
1963. These data provide the basis foranalysis of activity since 1984 reverses a general decline in
domesticandforeignpatentactivityandtechnologi- patent activity from 1971 to 1983. Between 1971
cal development. Statistical summaries and trend and 1983, the application filing rate of U.S. inven-
analyses are disseminated to public and private tors fell from 35 applications per 100,000 U.S.
organizations, othergovernmentagencies, and the population to 25 applications per 100,000. This
general publicthrough the useofstandard publica- represented a drop in the number of U.S. inventor
tions and customized reports. application filings from more than 70,000 in 197
In addition, rapid access to the technical infor- to less than 60,000 in 1983.
mation disclosed in patent documents is provided Beginning in 1984, application filing rates by
through USPTO's Automated Patent System (APS). U.S. inventorsbegantorisesteadily. In 1990, when
The APS contains the images of all patents issued more than 36 applications per 100,000 U.S. popu-
since 1790 and the full text ofmore than a million lation were received—the highest application filing
patentsissuedsince 1971. In addition to itsuse by rateinmorethan20years. Inactualnumbers,more
patentexaminerstoperformtextsearchandclassi- than 90,000 applications from U.S. inventors were
fied image searching, access to APS text search received in 1990. (See Appendix Table A-l.) The
5APStextsearchcapabilitieshavebeenavailabletopatronsofthe
USPTO Public Search Room since 1989; more recently, tert
search access has been available to patrons ofselected Patent
and Trademark Depository Libraries.
Highlights in PatentActivity
1991 application filing rate dropped slightly to 35 Figure2.
applications per 100,000; however, this decline
may represent only a temporary fluctuation in the Number of Utility Patent Grants by
data.6 Thedeclineinapplicationfilingsin 1991 may Ownership Type, U.S. Residents
be partly response to the substantial increase in 1971-1991
patentapplicationfeesin 1991 (from$495to$800
for small entities 7 and from $990 to $1,680 for
large entities). An unusually large, but temporary
drop in application filings in 1983 also coincided
with a substantial increase in application fees.
The USPTOexpanded itsstafftoreduce "patent
pendency time" (i.e., the period between applica-
tion filingand patent issue orabandonment bythe
applicant) from 25monthsin 1984to 18monthsin
1990. In 1984, ab—out38,000patentsweregranted 10-
to U.S. inventors equivalent to 16 patents per U.S.Government
100,000 U.S. population. Despite yearly fluctua- 1071 1975 1970 1983 1987 1991
tions in the number of grants issued, the general
trend in patent grants has been upward; by 1991,
more tha—n 51,000 patents were issued to U.S. dent U.S. inventors increased from 23 percent in
inventors equivalent to 20 patents per 100,000 1983 to 26 percent in 1989.
U.S. population.8
Patenting by the U.S. Government declined
steadilyfrom 1971 when 4 percentofutilitypatent
Ownership.
grantswereissuedtotheU.S. Government,to 1987
whenonly2percentofutilitypatentswereissuedto
Mearlythree-fourthsofallpatentsissuedtoU.S.-
resident inventors are owned by corporations and the U.S. Government. 9 The U.S. Government has
other private organizations. (See Figure 2.) The continuedtoreceiveabout2percentofutilitypatent
grants each yearsince 1987.
remainingpatentsareownedbyindependentinven-
tors(i.e., individuals)orU.S. Government organiza-
tions. Between 1971 and 1991, corporations re- GeographicDistributionofPatentActivity-AllU.S.
ceived 70to74percentoftheU.S. inventorpatents ResidentInventors.
issued eachyearandthisshare hasremained at 72
percent for the past three years. (See Appendix Patent activity in the United States is concen-
Table A-2). trated in the northeast, north central and, to some
—
extent, western states particularly California. 10
ThedistributionofU.S. inventorpatentsgranted Historically, greaternumbers ofpatentgrants have
toeachtypeofownerhasbeenrelativelystableover been issued to inventors residing in those states
time, although independent inventors (the second than to inventors in other states. The number of
largestgroupofpatentowners)appeartobemaking patentgrantsissued isan importantindicatorofthe
small gains in the total share ofpatentgrants. The amount of inventive activity within a particular
shareofU.S. inventorpatentsassigned to indepen- geographic area. Moreover, by measuring patent
6Application filings increased at theend offiscal year (FY) 1982 inventorsmatureintopatents(basedonan unpublishedUSPTO/
inanticipationofincreasedfilingfeesatthebeginningofFY 1983. TAF Report).
The numberof patentgrants can also showshort term fluctua- 9 Thedecline in patentingbythe U.S. Government isdue in part
tions, due to the USPTO budget, policyand staffresources. For tothe increased useofStatutoryInvention Registrations (SIR) by
example, insufficientresourcestoprint patentsin 1979 resulted theGovernment. SIRsaresometimesusedbytheGovernmentin
in a temporary drop in the number of grants issued that year. lieu of patents to disclose the technological information about
Generally, however, patentgrantdataare more likelythan appli- newinventions. Restrictionsonthemanufacture,useandsaleof
cation filingdata to show temporary fluctuations. patented inventions do not applytoSIRs.
7 Small entities consist of independent inventors, small busi- 10Asearlyas 1900,Californiawasoneofthemoreactivepatenting
nesses with less than 500 employees and non-profit organiza- states, ranked 10th out of 45 states in the number of patent
tions. grants, (USPTO, TechnologyAssessment&Forecast,7thReport,
8Percapitagrantratesarelowerthanpercapitaapplicationrates, March 1977)
since only about 57 percent of applications from domestic
U.S. Patentand Trademark Office
