Patents and Trademarks statistics

[In thousands (113.0 represents 113,000). Calendar year data. Covers patents issued to citizens of the United States and residents of foreign countries. For data on foreign countries, see table 1382]


Type	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998

Patent applications filed	113.0	114.5	118.4	112.4	120.6	127.1	133.0	139.8	151.9	166.3	176.7	178.4	187.2	189.4	206.9	226.6	211.6	233.0	261.5
Inventions	104.3	106.4	109.6	103.7	111.3	117.0	122.4	127.9	139.8	152.8	164.6	164.3	173.1	174.7	189.9	212.4	195.2	215.3	243.1
Designs	7.8	7.4	8.2	8.1	8.7	9.6	9.9	11.2	11.3	12.6	11.3	13.1	13.1	13.6	15.8	15.4	15.2	16.5	17.1
Botanical plants	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.5	0.7	0.6	0.7
Reissues	0.6	0.5	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.5	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.6

Patents Issued	66.2	71.1	63.3	62.0	72.7	77.3	77.0	89.6	84.4	102.7	99.2	106.8	107.4	109.7	113.6	113.8	121.7	124.1	163.1
Inventions	61.8	65.8	57.9	56.9	67.2	71.7	70.9	83.0	77.9	95.5	90.4	96.5	97.4	98.3	101.7	101.4	109.6	112.0	147.5
Individuals	13.8	14.2	11.9	10.5	12.3	12.9	13.3	15.3	14.3	18.0	17.3	18.1	17.3	16.5	17.3	17.4	18.2	17.6	22.5
Corporations: United States	27.7	29.5	25.8	25.7	30.0	31.2	29.5	33.8	31.5	38.7	36.1	39.2	40.3	41.8	44.0	44.0	48.7	50.2	66.1
Foreign (1)	19.1	21.0	19.2	19.6	23.7	26.4	27.0	32.9	31.4	38.0	36.0	38.1	38.7	38.8	38.8	39.1	41.5	42.9	57.9
US Government	1.2	1.1	1.0	1.0	1.2	1.1	1.0	1.0	0.7	0.9	1.0	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.3	1.0	0.9	0.9	1.0
Designs	3.9	4.7	4.9	4.6	4.9	5.1	5.5	6.0	5.7	6.1	8.0	9.6	9.3	10.6	11.1	11.7	11.4	11.4	14.8
Botanical plants	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.4	0.6	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.4	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.6
Reissues	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3

US residents ²	40.8	43.1	37.7	36.6	42.2	43.3	42.0	47.7	44.6	54.6	52.8	57.7	58.7	61.1	64.2	64.4	69.3	69.9	90.6

Foreign country residents ²	25.4	27.9	25.6	25.4	30.5	33.9	34.9	41.7	39.7	47.9	46.2	49.0	48.7	48.7	49.3	49.4	52.4	54.2	72.5
Percent of total	38.4	39.2	40.4	41.0	41.9	43.9	45.4	46.6	47.1	46.7	46.7	46.0	45.3	44.3	43.4	43.4	43.0	43.7	44.4

Other published documents ³	(Z)	0.1	(z)	(z)	(z)	(z)	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1

Trademarks:
Applications filed	46.8	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	65.1	69.1	71.3	78.3	94.4	127.3	123.3	127.8	150.4	161.1	188.9	212.5	234.6	246.6
Issued	24.7	48.6	48.4	46.8	54.0	71.7	51.8	51.4	54.3	63.1	60.8	52.4	85.8	86.9	70.1	92.5	102.5	145.2	136.1
Trademarks	18.9	42.7	42.4	40.5	48.6	65.8	46.7	47.3	47.4	55.3	53.6	46.6	80.2	80.6	63.9	85.6	93.7	138.2	129.9
Trademark Renewals	5.9	5.9	6.0	6.2	5.4	5.9	5.1	4.1	6.9	7.8	7.2	5.8	5.6	6.3	6.2	6.9	8.8	7.0	6.2

NA Not available.
(z) Less than 50. 1 Includes patents to foreign governments. 2 Includes patents for
inventions, designs, botanical plants, and reissues. 3 Includes Defensive Publications, a practice which began in November 1968 and ended in July 1986; and Statutory Invention Registrations, the current practice, which began May 1985. These documents are patent applications, which are published to provide the defensive properties of a patent, but do not have the enforceable rights of a patent. Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/reports.htm

Types of Patents The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) issues several different types of patent documents offering different kinds of protection and covering different types of subject matter.

A recently issued PTO patent document is one of six types, generally described below. See U.S. Code Title 35 - Patents, for a full description of patents and patent laws.

* Utility Patent- Issued for the invention of a new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or a new and useful improvement thereof, it generally permits its owner to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention for a period of up to twenty years from the date of patent application filing ++, subject to the payment of maintenance fees. Approximately 90% of the patent documents issued by the PTO in recent years have been utility patents, also referred to as "patents for invention."

* Design Patent- Issued for a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture, it permits its owner to exclude others from making, using, or selling the design for a period of fourteen years from the date of patent grant. Design patents are not subject to the payment of maintenance fees.

* Plant Patent- Issued for a new and distinct, invented or discovered asexually reproduced plant including cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids, and newly found seedlings, other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state, it permits its owner to exclude others from making, using, or selling the plant for a period of up to twenty years from the date of patent application filing ++. Plant patents are not subject to the payment of maintenance fees.

* Reissue Patent- Issued to correct an error in an already issued utility, design, or plant patent, it does not affect the period of protection offered by the original patent.

* Defensive Publication (DEF)- Issued instead of a regular utility, design, or plant patent, it offers limited protection, defensive in nature, to prevent others from patenting an invention, design, or plant. The Defensive Publication was replaced by the Statutory Invention Registration in 1985-86.

* Statutory Invention Registration (SIR)- This document replaced the Defensive Publication in 1985-86 and offers similar protection.

++ Although, the length of utility and plant patent protection (patent term) was previously seventeen years from the date of patent grant, utility and plant patents filed after June 8, 1995 now have a patent term of up to twenty years from the date of filing of the earliest related patent application. Utility and plant patents which were applied for prior to June 8, 1995, and which were or will be in force after June 8, 1995, now have a patent term of seventeen years from the date of patent grant or twenty years from the date of filing of the earliest related patent application, whichever is longer. Utility patents are subject to the payment of periodic maintenance fees to keep the patent in force. Patent terms can be extended under some specific circumstances. See the U.S. Code Title 35 - Patents for a full description of patent laws.

* U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Office of Electronic Information Products Technology Assessment and Forecast Program PK3-Suite 441 Washington, DC 20231

tel (703) 306-2600 FAX (703) 306-2737

*

http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/884_patents_and_trademarks.html

These tables are based on figures supplied by the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce and are subject to revision by the Census Bureau.

Copyright © 2006 Photius Coutsoukis and Information Technology Associates, all rights reserved.