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U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
Office of Electronic Information Products
Patent Technology Monitoring Division (PTMD)

U.S. GOVERNMENT PATENTS
2003

- 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 FISCAL YEAR OF GRANT
1978-2003 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 Fiscal Years 1978 to 2003,
As Distributed By Document Type and Fiscal Year of Grant
(the fiscal year extends from October 1 to September 30;
e.g., fiscal year 2003 includes the period from October 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003)
Patent
Type
1978-20031990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Total
                                 
Utility 12696 897 1137 1185 1154 1225 1135 921 924 1014 956 983 963 900 904 26994
Design 9 2   1   1 3 1 4 3   1 2 4 3 34
Plant     1           1 1   1   4 4 12
Reissue 10     3 2 2   1 1   1 3 5     28
SIR/Defensive Publ. 495 83 88 75 57 50 53 38 26 12 16 8 38 21 9 1069
Total 13210 982 1226 1264 1213 1278 1191 961 956 1030 973 996 1008 929 920 28137

 


SUMMARY TABLE
PATENTS ASSIGNED TO U.S. GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
AS DISTRIBUTED BY
DOCUMENT TYPE AND FISCAL YEAR OF APPLICATION
1978-2003 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 Fiscal Years 1978 to 2003,
As Distributed By Document Type and Fiscal Year of Application
(the fiscal year extends from October 1 to September 30;
e.g., fiscal year 2003 includes the period from October 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003)
Patent
Type
1978-20031990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Total
                                 
Utility 14717 1141 1213 1214 1247 1066 1236 911 954 852 835 781 618 204 5 26994
Design 11   1 2 3   2 2 3 2   3 3 2   34
Plant 1           1 1 1     3 5     12
Reissue 11 4 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 2   1       28
SIR/Defensive Publ. 666 82 70 56 60 19 28 23 21 21 11 10 1 1   1069
Total 15406 1227 1285 1273 1312 1086 1268 939 981 877 846 798 627 207 5 28137

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

DATA FOR THOSE APPLICATIONS WHICH WERE FILED BUT NEVER ISSUED (ROUGHLY 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 24 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 a significant number of those applications which ultimately would become patents were still pending as of these most recent years that are displayed in this table.

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.

For example, in a calendar year report profiling utility patents granted through December 2003, patent grant data, as distributed by calendar year of application are approximately 91% complete for utility patent applications filed in 1999, 75% complete for applications filed in 2000 and 49 percent complete for applications filed in 2001; data are essentially complete for utility patent applications filed prior to calendar year 1999.

 


PTMD Contacts

Questions regarding these reports should be directed to:

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Office of Electronic Information Products - Patent Technology Monitoring Division
MDW 4C18; P.O. Box 1450
Washington, DC 20231-1450

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

address of PTMD Internet pages :
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/tafp.html
ftp download of selected PTMD reports from : ftp.uspto.gov/pub/taf/


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