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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 FISCAL YEAR OF GRANT
1978-2004 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 Fiscal Years 1978 to 2004,
As Distributed By Document Type and Fiscal Year of Grant
(the fiscal year extends from October 1 to September 30;
e.g., fiscal year 2004 includes the period from October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2004)
Patent
Type 		1978-19901991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total
                                 
Utility 13593 1137 1185 1154 1225 1135 921 924 1015 956 983 963 901 904 912 27908
Design 11   1   1 3 1 4 3   1 2 4 3 1 35
Plant   1           1 1   1   4 4 2 14
Reissue 10   3 2 2   1 1   1 3 5     1 29
SIR/Defensive Publ. 578 88 75 57 50 53 38 26 12 16 8 38 21 9 10 1079
Total 14192 1226 1264 1213 1278 1191 961 956 1031 973 996 1008 930 920 926 29065

 

SUMMARY TABLE
PATENTS ASSIGNED TO U.S. GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
AS DISTRIBUTED BY
DOCUMENT TYPE AND FISCAL YEAR OF APPLICATION
1978-2004 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 Fiscal Years 1978 to 2004,
As Distributed By Document Type and Fiscal Year of Application
(the fiscal year extends from October 1 to September 30;
e.g., fiscal year 2004 includes the period from October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2004)
Patent
Type 		Pre-1991 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total
                                 
Utility 15872 1213 1215 1250 1072 1245 915 960 861 874 870 814 553 188 6 27908
Design 11 1 2 3   2 2 3 2   3 4 2     35
Plant 1         1 1 1     3 6 1     14
Reissue 15 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 2   2         29
SIR/Defensive Publ. 748 70 56 60 20 28 23 21 24 13 11 2 3     1079
Total 16647 1285 1274 1315 1093 1277 943 987 889 887 889 826 559 188 6 29065

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 filed in the most recent years in this table, which ultimately would become patents, were still pending as of September 30, 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.

For example, in a calendar year report profiling utility patents granted through December 2004, patent grant data, 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. Completion percentages for fiscal year statistics should be similar to those for the calendar year.

 

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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