Patenting Trends, Calendar Year 1995 page 1 of 2 Trends in All Patent Documents (Utility, Design, Plant, Reissue Patents, Statutory Invention Registrations) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- In calendar year 1995, the total number of patent documents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office increased to a record 113,955, including 101,419 utility, 11,712 design, 387 plant, and 316 reissue patents and 121 statutory invention registrations. Utility patent grants (patents for invention) were down slightly from 1994 (101,676 patents). U.S. resident inventors continued to display strong patenting activity in 1995. During the year, the share of all patent documents which were issued to U.S. resident inventors remained unchanged at 56.6 percent (64,410 patent documents). Foreign resident inventors claimed a 43.4 percent share of all patent documents granted (49,445 patent documents). The share of all U.S. patent documents which were issued to inventors residing in Japan was 20.1 percent in 1995 (22,871 patent documents), down from a 20.7 percent share in 1994. The share of all U.S. patent documents which were issued to inventors residing in Germany dropped to 6.0 percent (6,875 patent documents) in 1995 from 6.1 percent in 1994. There were 16,813 patent documents granted to U.S. independent inventors during 1995, an increase of 1.7 percent over 1994. The share of all patent documents which were granted to U.S.independent inventors increased to 14.8 percent of all patent documents in 1995 from 14.5 percent in 1994. The ten foreign countries which received the most patent documents during calendar year 1995 are displayed below. In general, only slight changes in ranking and percentage share will occur from one year to the next. United Kingdom, Taiwan (province of China), South Korea, and Sweden resident inventors are notable for their increase in patent documents received while Italy, Switzerland, and Japan resident inventors are notable for their decrease in patent documents received. (1994 to 1995) 1995 1995 # 1995 Share of (1994 # ) (Change in ) Rank Patents All Patents Country (Patents) (# of Patents) ---- ------- ------------- -------------------- -------- -------------- 1 22,871 20.1% Japan (23,517) ( - 2.8%) 2 6,875 6.0% Germany (6,989) ( - 1.6%) 3 3,011 2.6% France (2,985) ( + 0.9%) 4 2,677 2.3% United Kingdom (2,469) ( + 8.4%) 5 2,447 2.1% Canada (2,380) ( + 2.8%) 6 2,087 1.8% Taiwan, Prov of China (1,814) ( +15.0%) 7 1,242 1.1% Italy (1,360) ( - 8.7%) 8 1,240 1.1% South Korea (1,008) ( +23.0%) 9 1,185 1.0% Switzerland (1,244) ( - 4.7%) 10 914 0.8% Sweden (800) ( +14.3%) 64,510 56.6% United States (64,347) ( + 0.3%) 113,955 100.0% All Patent Documents(113,704) ( + 0.2%) ___________________________________________________________________________ SOURCE: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Technology Assessment and Forecast Data Base (1-25-96) Patenting Trends, Calendar Year 1995 page 2 of 2 Utility Patents (Patents for Invention) --------------------------------------- In calendar year 1995, a total of 101,419 utility patents were granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, down slightly from the 101,676 patents granted in 1994. U.S. resident inventors obtained 55.0 percent (55,740 patents) of the utility patents granted in 1995, also down slightly from the 55.1 percent share obtained in 1994. The share of utility patents which were issued to inventors residing in Japan was 21.5 percent in 1995 (21,764 patents), down from the 22.0 percent share in 1994. The share of utility patents which were issued to inventors residing in Germany also dropped to 6.5 percent (6,600 patents) in 1995 from 6.6 percent in 1994. There were 12,885 utility patents granted to U.S. independent inventors during 1995, a slight increase over 1994 (12,805 patents). The share of patents which were granted to U.S.independent inventors was 12.7 percent in 1995, up from a 12.6 percent share in 1994. The ten foreign countries which received the most utility patents during calendar year 1995 are displayed below. In general, only slight changes in ranking and percentage share will occur from one year to the next. United Kingdom, Taiwan (province of China), South Korea, Sweden, and Canada resident inventors are notable for their increase in patents received while Italy, Switzerland, and Japan resident inventors are notable for their decrease in patents received. (1994 to 1995) 1995 1995 # 1995 Share of (1994 # ) (Change in ) Rank Patents All Patents Country (Patents) (# of Patents) ---- ------- ------------- -------------------- -------- -------------- 1 21,764 21.5% Japan (22,384) ( - 2.8%) 2 6,600 6.5% Germany (6,731) ( - 1.9%) 3 2,821 2.8% France (2,779) ( + 1.5%) 4 2,474 2.4% United Kingdom (2,234) ( +10.7%) 5 2,104 2.1% Canada (2,008) ( + 4.8%) 6 1,620 2.1% Taiwan, Prov of China(1,443) ( +12.3%) 7 1,161 1.1% South Korea (943) ( +23.1%) 8 1,078 1.1% Italy (1,215) ( -11.3%) 9 1,056 1.0% Switzerland (1,169) ( - 9.7%) 10 806 0.8% Sweden (706) ( +14.2%) 55,740 55.0% United States (56,067) ( - 0.6%) 101,419 100.0% All Utility Patents(101,676) ( - 0.3%) ___________________________________________________________________________ SOURCE: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Technology Assessment and Forecast data base (1-25-96) ------------------ Questions regarding this report should be directed to: (address updated 4/96) 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