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U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
Patent Technology Monitoring Team (PTMT)

U.S. GOVERNMENT PATENTS
2008

- this report has been prepared with support from the National Science Foundation -

SUMMARY TABLE
PATENTS ASSIGNED TO U.S. GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
AS DISTRIBUTED BY
DOCUMENT TYPE AND CALENDAR YEAR OF GRANT
1977-2008 PATENT GRANTS

(patent ownership is determined by the first-named assignee listed on a patent)

Table A
Number of Patents Granted to U.S. Government Institutions
During Calendar Years 1977 to 2008,
As Distributed By Document Type and Calendar Year of Grant
Patent
Type 		1977-19941995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Total
                                 
Utility 19852 1028 924 944 1028 984 928 957 913 882 842 698 792 725 678 32175
Design 15 3   5 2   2 1 5 2 1 2 1 3 5 47
Plant 1     2   1     8   3 1 2     18
Reissue 17 1   1   1 5 3     1 1 2 1   33
SIR/DP 866 51 37 22 10 14 25 24 19 7 12 11 18 10 10 1136
Total 20751 1083 961 974 1040 1000 960 985 945 891 859 713 815 739 693 33409

 

SUMMARY TABLE
PATENTS ASSIGNED TO U.S. GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
AS DISTRIBUTED BY
DOCUMENT TYPE AND CALENDAR YEAR OF APPLICATION
1977-2008 PATENT GRANTS

(patent ownership is determined by the first-named assignee listed on a patent)

Table B
Number of Patents Granted to U.S. Government Institutions
During Calendar Years 1977 to 2008,
As Distributed By Document Type and Calendar Year of Application
Patent
Type 		PRE 19951995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Total
                                 
Utility 22120 1178 924 962 928 847 988 999 937 827 673 507 225 57 3 32175
Design 18 3 4 2   1 2 4 2 1 3 2 3 2   47
Plant 1 1 1 1   1 2 8   1 2         18
Reissue 20 2 3 1 1 1 1   1 1 2         33
SIR/DP 967 26 23 21 23 14 14 11 14 15 5 3       1136
Total 23126 1210 955 987 952 864 1007 1022 954 845 685 512 228 59 3 33409

Considerations Regarding Patents As Distributed By Year of Application (Table B)

DATA FOR THOSE APPLICATIONS WHICH WERE FILED BUT NEVER ISSUED (HISTORICALLY ABOUT 25% OF TOTAL FILINGS) ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS TABLE.

Since the average time period between filing for a patent and the issuing of the patent (i.e., the patent's "pendency") is now about 32 months (for utility patents), the patent grant data, as distributed by year of application, are incomplete for the most recent years that are displayed in this table. This is because this report includes patents granted only through December 31, 2008- a significant number of the applications that were filed in the most recent years displayed in this table were still pending as of December 31, 2008, and will eventually be patented sometime after December 31, 2008.

Patented application data are of significant value since the date an application was filed more accurately reflects when the technology was developed. Additionally, fluctuations in data based on application date are much more likely to reflect changes in technological activity since, for the most part, such fluctuations would be immune from changes in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) processing such as occurred in years such as 1986 when the USPTO issued fewer patents than would have normally been expected due to a lack of funds to print patents. Note that a patent's "pendency" can be quite variable from one patent to another, thereby affecting the date of patent grant. Such variation in pendency is determined by many factors, including PTO workload (which varies between technologies), budget and manpower levels, patent printing schedules, etc. Please note that types of patent documents such as design patents, plant patents, reissue patents, statutory invention registrations, and defensive publications may have average pendency periods that differ somewhat from the pendency period for utility patents.

In this table, utility patent grant data (patents granted through December 31, 2008), as distributed by year of application, are approximately 98% complete for patent applications filed in calendar year 2000, 93% complete for calendar year 2001 filings, 90% complete for calendar year 2002 filings, 78% complete for calendar year 2003 filings, 60% complete for applications filed in 2004, 37% complete for applications filed in 2005, and 17% complete for applications filed in 2006. They are essentially complete for applications filed prior to calendar year 2000. Please note that average pendencies for other patent document types will differ somewhat from the pendency figures for utility patents.

 

PTMT Contacts

Questions regarding these reports should be directed to:

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Electronic Information Products Division - Patent Technology Monitoring Team
P.O. Box 1450
Washington, DC 20231-1450

tel: (571) 272-5600
fax: (571) 273-0110
email: oeip@uspto.gov

address of PTMT Internet pages :
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/tafp.html
selected PTMT files available for download at : http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/data/

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