Patents Production, Unexamined Inventory and Filings Data

Unexamined Patent Application Inventory

The unexamined patent application inventory is the number of new utility, plant, and reissue (UPR) patent applications in the pipeline at any given time which are awaiting a First Office Action by the patent examiner. Continuation, continuation-in-part, and divisional applications are included in the total.

Application filings are utility, plant, and reissue (UPR) filings, or the incoming patent application workload. The bar chart reflects the cumulative number of application filings this fiscal year in each of the preceding three months. Continuation, continuation-in-part, divisional, and Request for Continued Examination (RCE) applications are included in the total.

FY 2020 filings are preliminary and will be finalized in November 2020.

Request for Continued Examination (RCE) Inventory

The Request for Continued Examination (RCE) inventory is the number of patent applications in the pipeline, at any given time, which are awaiting an intital action after a request for continued examination is filed.

RCE application filings are utility, plant, and reissue (UPR) filings, or the incoming RCE application workload. The bar chart reflects the cumulative number of RCE application filings this fiscal year in each of the preceding three months.

Utility, Plant, and Reissue (UPR) Patent Application Production Units

The utility, plant, and reissue (UPR) patent application production units are a measure of the patent examination work completed by the USPTO. A production unit effectively represents the complete examination of a single application. The production units are the total first office actions plus the total disposals completed, divided by two. The number of production units displayed are the actual number of units completed in the current fiscal year.

Patent Examiners on Staff

This is the number of patent examiners at the USPTO, not including design patent examiners.

Average Actions Per Disposal

TThe number of actions per disposal reflects the average number of examiner actions leading to the final disposition of a patent application (allowed, abandoned, or on appeal). For example, if an applicaiton receives a first office action, a final office action, and is then allowed, this application would have three actions per disposal. The reported number is determined by calculating the cumulative total actions and dividing by the cumulative total disposals over the fiscal year. This number includes the abandonment for a Request for Continued Examination (RCE) as a disposal.

Utility, Plant, and Reissue (UPR) Patent Applications Allowed

UPR allowance rate, including RCEs =

UPR allowance rate, without RCEs =

Cumulative for fiscal year

Allowed utility, plant, and reissue (UPR) patent applications are applications that have been examined by USPTO patent examiners and determined to be eligible for a patent. The allowance rate, or percent allowed, is calculated by dividing the number of applications allowed by the number of applications disposed in the current fiscal year. The allowance rate "including RCEs" includes the abandonments for requests for continued examination (RCEs) in the disposals. This is the traditional way the allowance rate has been reported. The allowance rate "without RCEs" does not include the abandonments for RCEs in the disposals.

12-Month Utility, Plant, and Reissue (UPR) Patent Applications Received by Entity

The chart shows the breakdown of cumulative utility, plant, and reissue (UPR) filings received by entity for the past 12-months.