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U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
Electronic Information Products Division
Patent Technology Monitoring Team (PTMT)

U.S. GOVERNMENT PATENTS
2004

- 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
1977-2004 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 2004,
As Distributed By Document Type and Calendar Year of Grant
Patent
Type 		1977-19901991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total
                                 
Utility 15083 1183 1161 1167 1258 1028 924 944 1028 984 928 957 913 882 842 29282
Design 12   1   2 3   5 2   2 1 5 2 1 36
Plant 0 1           2   1     8   3 15
Reissue 10 1 2 3 1 1   1   1 5 3     1 29
SIR/DP 605 87 61 64 49 51 37 22 10 14 25 24 19 7 12 1087
Total 15710 1272 1225 1234 1310 1083 961 974 1040 1000 960 985 945 891 859 30449

 

SUMMARY TABLE
PATENTS ASSIGNED TO U.S. GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
AS DISTRIBUTED BY
DOCUMENT TYPE AND CALENDAR YEAR OF APPLICATION
1977-2004 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 2004,
As Distributed By Document Type and Calendar Year of Application
Patent
Type 		PRE 19911991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total
                                 
Utility 17376 1192 1226 1222 1093 1162 920 955 911 813 889 807 550 164 2 29282
Design 13   2 3   3 4 2   1 2 4 2     36
Plant 1         1 1 1   1 2 8       15
Reissue 15 1 1 3   2 3 1 1 1 1         29
SIR/DP 779 54 64 46 24 26 23 19 23 14 8 4 3     1087
Total 18184 1247 1293 1274 1117 1194 951 978 935 830 902 823 555 164 2 30449

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 applied for in the most recent years in this table, which ultimately would become patents, were still pending as of December 31, 2004, the last possible issue date for patents included 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.

In this table, utility patent grant data (patents granted through December 31, 2004), as distributed by year of application, are approximately 93% complete for utility patent applications filed in 1999, 84% complete for applications filed in 2000, 66 percent complete for applications filed in 2001, and 44% complete for applications filed in 2002; data are essentially complete for utility patent applications filed prior to 1999. 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
MDW 4C18; 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
ftp download of selected PTMT reports from : ftp.uspto.gov/pub/taf/

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