U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
Information Products Division
Technology Assessment and Forecast (TAF) Branch

U.S. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES-
UTILITY PATENT GRANTS,
CALENDAR YEARS 1969-2000

- this report has been prepared with support from the National Science Foundation -


BREAKOUT BY TECHNOLOGY CLASS -
PATENTS DISTRIBUTED BY CALENDAR YEAR OF PATENT APPLICATION

NUMBER OF UTILITY PATENTS ASSIGNED ANNUALLY TO
U.S. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES


Explanation of Data --

This set of drill-down tables has been prepared from the Technology Assessment and Forecast (TAF) database and displays utility patent activity (i.e., 'patents for inventions'), by technology class, for patents having ownership assigned to U.S. colleges and universities. Technology class of a patent, as identified for these tables, is based on the PRIMARY classification of each patent in the U.S. Patent Classification System as of 31 December 2000 *. Counts of patents granted since 1969 are displayed in each table. Annual counts are available for each of the most recent 21 years while counts for earlier years are displayed in a single data column at the left side of each table.

For the purposes of this report and these tables, patent assignee (ownership) information is determined by the first-named assignee at the time of patent grant, as listed on the issuing patent.

Displayed patent counts in these tables are distributed by the year in which the patents were filed, instead of the year the grants were issued. These data do not represent the number application filings; only those filings that resulted in patent grants are presented here **. Counts of patent applications received ARE NOT displayed in these reports.

These tables are divided into three types as follows:
ALL U.S. UNIVERSITIES:
This table displays counts of utility patents (i.e., 'patents for inventions') by technology class * for the entire group of patents that has been associated with any and all identified U.S. colleges and universities.

A total count of patents for all associated technology classes is also provided.

TOP 100 R&D UNIVERSITIES:
This table displays counts of utility patents (i.e., 'patents for inventions') by technology class * for the entire group of patents that has been associated with the top 100 academic institutions ranked according to R&D expenditures in fiscal year 1999 ***.

A total count of patents for all associated technology classes is also provided.

INDIVIDUAL LISTINGS FOR EACH TOP 100 R&D UNIVERSITY:
Each of these tables displays counts of utility patents (i.e., 'patents for inventions') by technology class * for the entire group of patents that has been associated with a university ranked in the top 100 academic institutions according to R&D expenditures in fiscal year 1999 ***.

A total count of patents for all associated technology classes is also provided.


Footnotes:

* - The technology class breakouts available in these tables are major divisions of technology in the U.S. Patent Classification System (USPCS). It should be noted that each class is further divided into smaller divisions of technology called subclasses. The USPCS currently contains approximately 460 total classes and 150,000 total subclasses. Technology classes available in these reports are classes of technology as defined by the U.S. Patent Classification System as it existed on 31 December, 2000.

Copies of each patent are placed (classified) in those subclasses that have been identified as pertinent to the information disclosed in the patent. One, and only one, of these subclasses is designated as the PRIMARY classification, and the remainder (if any) are designated as CROSS-REFERENCE classifications. Counting patents by PRIMARY classification, as has been done for these tables, will ensure that each patent is counted only once. However, if a patent teaches more than one concept, e.g., table and chair, only one concept, e.g., table, will be counted . Please note that a patent's PRIMARY classification is also referred to as its ORIGINAL classification in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office specific terminology.

For this table, some classes have been combined together under a single class identifier. In such cases, combined classes are noted in the accompanying class titles. In addition, selected class titles have been modified to clarify technological content. Patent classification is based on the PRIMARY classification of each patent as of 31 December 2000.

If the record for a patent is incomplete and contains no PRIMARY classification, then the patent is counted in class 001, titled CLASSIFICATION UNDETERMINED. For a more detailed description of the technologies encompassed by a U.S. Patent Classification System class of technology, the Manual of U.S. Patent Classification and the U.S. Patent Classification System Classification Definitions should be consulted.

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** - DATA FOR THOSE APPLICATIONS WHICH WERE FILED BUT NEVER ISSUED (ROUGHLY 25% OF TOTAL FILINGS) ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THESE TABLES.

Since the average time period between filing for a patent and the issuing of the patent (i.e., a patent's "pendency") is about 24 months, the data in these tables for 1997 - December 2000 are incomplete. This is because a significant number of the applications filed from 1997 - December 2000 which will ultimately become patents were still pending in December 2000. Since they had not yet become patents as of December 2000, they are not included in these tables.

Data displaying patents as distributed by their year of application are of significant value since the date an application was filed more accurately reflects when the technology was developed. Additionally, fluctuations in patent data distributed by application date are much more likely to reflect changes in technological activity, since such fluctuations would for the most part be immune to 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 normally have 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 USPTO workload (which varies between technologies), budget and manpower levels, patent printing schedules, etc.

As of 12/31/2000, utility patent application data were approximately 99% complete for patent applications filed in 1997, 61% complete for 1998 filings and 19% complete for 1999 filings. They were essentially complete for applications filed prior to 1997.

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*** - Academic institutions in the top 100, based on R&D expenditures in fiscal year 1999, are derived from National Science Foundation report, Academic Research and Development Expenditures, Fiscal Year 1999 (early release tables, Table 32). This NSF report, based on NSF's fiscal year 1999 Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges, depicts science and engineering expenditures for separately budgeted research and development at academic institutions:

The term 'separately budgeted R&D expenditures' includes all funds expended for activities specifically organized to produce research outcomes and commissioned by an agency either external to the institution or separately budgeted by an organizational unit within the institution. 'Expenditures' are funds actually spent by an institution during its fiscal year.

The names of academic institutions in the NSF report are shown in a table, 'Total R&D Expenditures at U.S. Colleges and Universities: Top 100 Institutions in R&D Expenditures in Fiscal Year 1999', available elsewhere in this patent report. The NSF report provides a ranking that includes specific campuses of statewide systems, such as the University of California at San Diego (U CA San Diego), which is ranked 6th in R&D expenditures in 1999.

However, it is not always possible to identify the patents associated with a specific campus; frequently, the name of a larger institution or statewide system-not a specific campus--appears as the assignee name on a U.S. patent. For example, a patent assigned to the University of California may or may not be associated with the San Diego campus. For some academic institutions in the NSF top 100, only patent counts for larger institutions or statewide systems can be provided.

The table, 'Total R&D Expenditures at U.S. Colleges and Universities: Top 100 Institutions in R&D Expenditures in Fiscal Year 1999' shows the assignee names on U.S. patents that most closely correspond to the academic institutions in the NSF top 100, and for which patent counts are provided in this section. No attempt is made to provide total patent counts for specific campuses or research facilities, and where they do appear, those figures should not be considered the total patent count for those campuses or research facilities.


Other Information --

Analyzing the Data
Use of spreadsheet software may facilitate analysis of the data contained in these tables. Users should note that many spreadsheet software programs (e.g., Microsoft Excel) can import these tables directly. Check the spreadsheet software documentation for details.

Printing the Tables
Some web browsers permit acceptable printing of these tables directly from the web page. Also, importing the web page into spreadsheet or word-processing software may allow a user additional flexibility for formatting the tables for printing. Check the corresponding software documentation for details.


TAF Contacts

Questions regarding these reports should be directed to:

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Information Products Division - TAF Branch
PK3- Suite 441
Washington, DC 20231

tel: (703) 306-2600
FAX: (703) 306-2737
email oeip@uspto.gov

address of TAF Internet pages : http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/tafp.html
ftp download of TAF reports from : ftp.uspto.gov/pub/taf/

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Last modified 22 May 2002