Links to USPTO Patent Statistics and Data Resources


USPTO Patent Statistics

USPTO Data Visualization Center -- Patents Dashboard
Monthly workload patent statistics including data on pendency, backlog, and other tracking measures:
http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/patents/main.dashxml .

PTMT Calendar Year (CY) Patent Statistics and Counts Reports (CY: January 1 through December 31)
Data, aggregated by calendar year, as overseen by the USPTO Patent Technology Monitoring Team (PTMT). Various reports break out patent activity by patent type, geography, organization, technology, ownership, domestic inventor share, etc.:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/reports.htm .

USPTO Fiscal Year (FY) Annual Reports (FY: currently October 1 through September 30)
Data, aggregated by fiscal year, as included in the USPTO "Performance and Accountability Reports" / "Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks Annual Reports":
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/ann_rpt_intermed.htm .
This web page provides a general link to the Annual Reports and also contains links, where available, to the workload patent statistics sections of each of the Annual Reports.

International Patent Statistics and Data Resources

IP5 Statistical Reports and Data
The Five IP Offices (IP5) is the name given to a forum of the five largest intellectual property offices in the world that has been established to improve the efficiency of the examination process for patents worldwide. The members of IP5 are: the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japanese Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO), and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Various statistics that describe the patenting activities in these five offices may be accessed from the IP5 Statistics Report, available at the IP5 Web Site:
http://www.fiveipoffices.org/index.html (click on the "Statistics" link).

Other Intellectual Property Office Patent Statistics and Data
For statistics profiling patenting activity at intellectual property offices outside the United States and for the data resources available from those offices, the web sites of those offices should be consulted. Please note that patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office provide patent protection only within the United States. Links to other intellectual property offices and other related sites of possible interest may be accessed at the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/other-web-resources .
See, in particular, the link on this page labeled, "World Intellectual Property Organization's Directory of Intellectual Property Offices", for links to other intellectual property offices.

European Patent Office (EPO) and PATSTAT Patent Statistics and Data
EPO has developed a worldwide patent statistics database (PATSTAT) which includes patent bibliographic data, citation data, and family links, along with other associated patent data elements. PATSTAT is used by EPO and other organizations for producing and reporting a variety of patent statistics. Information about the PATSTAT dataset, which is available for purchase, may be viewed at the following web page:
http://www.epo.org/searching/subscription/raw/product-14-24.html .

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Patent Statistics and Data
WIPO annually collects patent statistics from intellectual property offices around the world. Many of these statistics are compiled and published in their annual World Intellectual Property Indicators publication. Access to that publication and information about patent data available from WIPO may be obtained from the following web page:
http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/statistics/patents/ .

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Patent Statistics and Data
OECD is an international organization that has gathered and made available selected statistics that profile the patenting activity at different intellectual property offices around the world including at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). While OECD gathers many statistics that are similar to those gathered at USPTO, please note that OECD patent statistics, in general, aggregate the patent data in ways that differ from the methods used at USPTO. OECD patent resources can be accessed from the general OECD web site at:
http://www.oecd.org/
and from following OECD web page:
http://www.oecd.org/sti/inno/oecdpatentdatabases.htm.

Index of USPTO Patent Statistics and Related Materials by Subject Area, Alphabetical

Accelerated Examination
Accelerated patent examination information and statistics may be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/patent/initiatives/accelerated-examination .

America Invents Act (AIA) Statistics
Various statistics relating to AIA may be accessed from the USPTO Data Visualization Center -- Patents Dashboard web page, available at:
http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/patents/main.dashxml .
Go to the link titled, "To access AIA statistics, please click here.".

Applications/Filings for Patents, Monthly Counts
Counts of monthly receipts of patent applications may be accessed from the USPTO Data Visualization Center -- Patents Dashboard web page, available at:
http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/patents/main.dashxml .
Go to the very bottom of the web page and click on the image link titled, "Download the .xls spreadsheet, viewable in Microsoft Excel, Google Doc, and other spreadsheet software". In some web browsers, the user may need to click on this link more than once to retrieve the spreadsheet. Monthly filings currently are displayed for each month since October 2008.

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences Statistics
Please see the entry for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

Backlogs
Various statistics relating to the patent application backlogs may be accessed from the USPTO Data Visualization Center -- Patents Dashboard web page, available at:
http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/patents/main.dashxml .
Go to the link titled, "Production, Backlog, and Filing Data". Generally, patent backlogs refer to applications that are awaiting a particular action at USPTO.

Business Method-Related Arts (Class 705)
General fiscal year workload statistics relating to patenting activity in Class 705 (business method-related arts) may be viewed at the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/patents-getting-started/patent-basics/types-patent-applications/utility-patent/business-methods-18 .
Please note that the contents of this web page may be somewhat old.
A short article in "USPTO Today" discussed fiscal year 2001 patenting activity in Class 705. The article may be viewed on the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/menu/pbmethod/fy2001strport.html
Another article in "World Economic Forum" titled "Business Method Patents: Debunking Three Myths" by patent examiner Kirsten Apple on page 61-62. The article may be viewed on the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/cgi-bin/exitconf/internet_exitconf.pl?target=www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_FS_RethinkingFinancialInnovation_Report_2012.pdf .
Additionally, several PTMT drill-down reports profiling patent grant activity in Class 705 are available and can be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/reports.htm#by_ptech

Classification of Patents
General information about the patent classification systems used at the USPTO to aggregate data:
http://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/patent-search/classification-standards-and-development
Also, see the entry below, "North American Industry Classification (NAIC) Concordance to U.S. Patent Classification System", for information about classification by industry categories.

Economics-Related
Selected reports, datasets, and materials relating to intellectual property and statistics are available from the USPTO Office of the Chief Economist. For further information, see the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/about-us/organizational-offices/office-policy-and-international-affairs/office-chief-economist/chief .

Electronic Freedom of Information Act: E-FOIA
USPTO E-FOIA Reading Room materials may contain various data and statistics. For links to those Reading Rooms, see the FOIA Reading Rooms section on the following web page: http://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/ip-policy/electronic-freedom-information-act-e-foia .

Examiner Staffing
General fiscal year workload statistics relating to patent examiner staffing may be viewed in workload tables of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Annual Reports / Performance and Accountability Reports (workload table 29 of the fiscal year 2015 report). Those reports and workload tables may be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/ann_rpt_intermed.htm .

Additional fiscal year workload statistics relating to patent examiner staffing may be viewed at the "USPTO Data Visualization Center -- Patents Dashboard":
http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/patents/main.dashxml.
Click on the link to "Production, Backlog and Filings".

Green Technologies
General information and fiscal year workload statistics relating to patenting activity in Green Technologies may be viewed at the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/patent/initiatives/green-technology-pilot-program-closed .
See, in particular, the links on this page under the section titled, "Statistics".

Maintenance Fees
Selected USPTO maintenance fee payment statistics are available in Chapter 4 of the IP5 Statistics Report (see entry, above).
Detailed information relating to patent maintenance fee payments for each patent subject to the fees is contained in a (very large) maintenance fee events file that can be downloaded from the following web page:
https://bulkdata.uspto.gov/data2/patent/maintenancefee/ .
Maintenance fee information for a single patent can be accessed from the following area of the USPTO Web Site:
https://ramps.uspto.gov/eram/patentMaintFees.do

North American Industry Classification (NAIC) Concordance to U.S. Patent Classification System
USPTO's PTMT (Patent Technology Monitoring Team) developed a high level concordance between the U.S. Patent Classification System and the North American Industry Classification (NAICs codes). To view this high level concordance, see:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/reports.htm#sic_conc .
Patent activity as broken out by these high level NAICs codes may be seen in report tables available at:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/reports.htm#by_indus
Please note that in 2015 the USPTO moved to the Cooperative Patent Classification System (CPC).

Operational and Workload Statistics
General fiscal year operational and workload patent statistics are contained in the "U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Annual Reports" / "Performance and Accountability Reports". Those reports may be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/ann_rpt_intermed.htm .
Some fiscal year patent operational and workload statistics that relate to examiner staffing, patent pendency, quality of product, and the patent application backlog also are presented on web pages that may be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/statistics/patent-statistics .
See, in particular, the link to the "USPTO Data Visualization Center -- Patents Dashboard", which contains various related statistics.
Additional fiscal year operational and workload patent statistics may be contained in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office documents relating to the USPTO Strategic Plan, accessible from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/about-us/performance-and-planning/strategy-and-reporting ,
and relating to USPTO plans and budgets, accessible from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/about-us/performance-and-planning/budget-and-financial-information .

Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)
Several sets of PTAB fiscal year workload statistics may be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/patent-trial-and-appeal-board-0.html .
In particular, see the link labeled, "Statistics".
PTAB final decisions can be searched using the following web page:
http://e-foia.uspto.gov/Foia/PTABReadingRoom.jsp .
Some additional, older statistics relating to Fiscal Year 2007 work performed by the PTAB may be viewed on the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/page/making-effective-use-appeals-process-practice-tips .

PatentsView Web Visualization and Data Tool
This prototype provides a user-friendly visualization tool, query tool, and a flexible application programming interface (API) that will allow quick access to USPTO patent data for a broad range of users. Go to the web page of the Office of the Chief Economist for further information:
http://www.uspto.gov/about-us/organizational-offices/office-policy-and-international-affairs/office-chief-economist/chief
and click on the "Data" link to access the link to this tool.

Peer Review Pilot Program Statistics
Statistics and information relating to the USPTO Peer Review Pilot Program may be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/patent/initiatives/peer-review-pilot-program-original-closed .

Pendency
General fiscal year workload statistics relating to patent pendency (usually considered as either (a) the length of time between patent application filing and the issue of the patent or (b) the length of time between patent application filing and the abandonment of the application) may be viewed in workload tables 1 and 4 of the "U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Annual Reports" / "Performance and Accountability Reports". Those reports and workload tables may be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/ann_rpt_intermed.htm .
Additional fiscal year workload statistics relating to patent pendency may be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/statistics/patent-statistics .
See, in particular, the link to the "USPTO Data Visualization Center -- Patents Dashboard", which contains various related pendency statistics.

Pending Applications
General fiscal year workload statistics relating to the characteristics and quantity of pending patent applications may be viewed in the "U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Annual Reports" / "Performance and Accountability Reports" (workload tables 3, 4, and 5 in the 2015 report). Those reports and workload tables may be accessed from the following web page: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/ann_rpt_intermed.htm .
Additional fiscal year workload statistics relating to pending applications may be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/statistics/patent-statistics .
See, in particular, the link to the "USPTO Data Visualization Center -- Patents Dashboard", which contains various related statistics.
A table containing a fiscal year 2009 inventory count of patent applications by examination technology center may be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/statistics/patent-inventory-statistics-fy09 .

Petition Statistics
Information relating to patent petitions may be accessed from the USPTO Data Visualization Center -- Patents Dashboard web page, available at:
http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/patents/main.dashxml .
See, in particular, the link labeled "Petition Data".

Post Grant Review and other Patent Trial and Appeal Board Statistics
See the entry for "Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)".

Prioritized (Track 1) Examination
Very general prioritized examination statistics and information may be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/patent/laws-and-regulations/america-invents-act-aia/patents-examination .
See, in particular, the link labeled "Track One web page" under the section heading, "Prioritized Examination".
Additionally, statistics can be accessed from the "USPTO Data Visualization Center -- Patents Dashboard" web page, available at:
http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/patents/main.dashxml .
See, in particular, the link labeled "Special Program Data".

Provisional Patent Applications
General fiscal year workload statistics relating to provisional patent application filings may be viewed in workload tables of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Annual Reports / Performance and Accountability Reports (workload table 1 of the fiscal year 2015 report). Those reports and workload tables may be accessed from the following web page: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/ann_rpt_intermed.htm .

Quality
Information relating to patent quality statistics may be accessed from the USPTO Data Visualization Center -- Patents Dashboard web page, available at: http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/patents/main.dashxml .
See, in particular, the link labeled "Quality Data".

Reexamination
General fiscal year workload statistics relating to patent reexamination activity may be viewed in workload tables of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Annual Reports / Performance and Accountability Reports (tables 14A and 14B of the 2015 report). Those reports and workload tables may be accessed from the following web page: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/ann_rpt_intermed.htm .
Detailed fiscal year workload statistics and information relating to patent reexamination activity may be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/statistics/reexamination-information .
A reexamination authority listing of all Reexamination Certificates for U.S. patent documents (including the following data fields: Document Number, Publication Date, and a code describing the Kind of Document) may be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/rexamination/reexamination-certificate .
Selected workload statistics relating to reexamination may be accessed from the following Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/patenttrialandappealboard/main.dashxml .
Reexamination statistics also may be accessed from the USPTO Data Visualization Center -- Patents Dashboard web page, available at:
http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/patents/main.dashxml .
See, in particular, the link labeled "Central Reexamination Unit Data".

Requests for Continued Examination (RCE)
Various statistics relating to RCEs may be accessed from the USPTO Data Visualization Center -- Patents Dashboard web page, available at:
http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/patents/main.dashxml .
See, for example, the contents of the links titled, "Pendency Data" and "Production, Backlog, and Filing Data".

Term Adjustments
Detail information relating to patents receiving patent term adjustments under 35 USC 154(b) may be accessed from the USPTO Data Visualization Center -- Patents Dashboard web page, available at:
http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/patents/main.dashxml .
See, in particular, the link labeled "Patent Term Adjustment Data".

Term Extensions
Detail information relating to patents receiving term extensions under 35 USC 155 and 35 USC 156 may be accessed from the following web page:
http://www.uspto.gov/patent/laws-and-regulations/patent-terms-extended .

Visual Representations of Patent Data (e.g., graphics, plots, charts, maps)
There are several USPTO-related web page locations that contain prototype/beta tools for displaying general patent data in a visual way. These locations include:

Data Resources

Bulk Data Files

Most bulk patent data may be accessed from either
https://bulkdata.uspto.gov/
or
http://patents.reedtech.com/index.php .

Please note that programming may be required to extract individual data elements from the bulk data for analysis. Bulk patent data files include:

Additionally, various data from the USPTO and other agencies within the Department of Commerce are available from the Department of Commerce Data Hub
(https://data.commerce.gov/).

Also:

USPTO Library, Patent and Trademark Office Resource Centers, and Search Tools

Comments about this USPTO web page are welcome and may be e-mailed to the USPTO Patent Technology Monitoring Team (PTMT): oeip@uspto.gov

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