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U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
Office of Electronic Information Products
Patent Technology Monitoring Division (PTMD)


U.S. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES-
UTILITY PATENT GRANTS,
CALENDAR YEARS 1969-2003

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

TECHNOLOGIES EMPHASIZED IN UTILITY PATENTS
ASSIGNED TO
ALL U.S. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES,
UTILITY PATENT GRANTS, 1993 AND 2003

Explanation of Data --

This table, prepared from the Technology Assessment and Forecast (TAF) database, identifies the classes of technology that received relatively greater and lesser emphasis in issuing utility patents (i.e., "patents for inventions") that were assigned to U.S. colleges and universities. Patent assignee (ownership) information is determined by the first-named assignee (owner) listed on the issuing patent.

This table includes data for patents granted in two calendar years, 1993 and 2003. Although patents can be classified into multiple classes of technology, only the class that was associated with each utility patent's PRIMARY classification as of 31 December 2003 is represented in the table (see the "Classes of Technology" discussion, below).

The displayed university "activity index" values indicate which classes of technology received greater and lesser patenting emphasis in utility patents assigned to U.S. colleges and universities. Classes are listed in order of decreasing "activity index" values for the year 2003. Under this arrangement, classes of technology that were emphasized more heavily in 2003 are listed higher in the table. If two or more classes have identical "activity index" values for 2003, the classes are listed in ascending class number order.

The "activity index" for a particular year and class is calculated by first determining the proportion of "total U.S. university patents" that are in that class for the year, then dividing that amount by the "total U.S. university patents" that are in all classes for that year. An "activity index" equal to 1.000 indicates that the proportion of U.S. university patents in that class of technology is the same as the proportion of U.S. university patents that are in all classes combined. An "activity index" value greater than 1.000 for a class indicates that a relatively higher proportion of U.S. college and university patents are in that class, compared to the proportion of U.S. college and university patents that are in all classes combined.

Please note that full information necessary for calculating the individual "activity index" values is presented in each table.

Example:

For utility patents that were granted in 2003, the "activity index" for Class 216, "Etching a Substrate: Processes", is calculated as follows:

Referring to the "activity index" table--

In 2003 and in class 216, there were 254 patents granted (see data column 4 for class 216) of which 8 were U.S. university patents (see data column 6 for class 216).

In 2003 and in all classes of technology, there were 169,027 patents granted (last row of table data, column 4) of which 3,259 were U.S. university patents (last row of table data, column 6).

The U.S. university patent share of total utility patents issuing in Class 216 in 2003 is:
( 8 / 254 ), or 3.150 percent.

The U.S. university share of total utility patents issuing in all utility patent classes in 2003 is:
( 3,259 / 169,027 ), or 1.928 percent.

The U.S. university "activity index" for Class 216, "Etching a Substrate: Processes", in 2003 is:
( ( 8 / 254 ) / ( 3,259 / 169,027 ) ) = (3.150 / 1.928) = 1.634.

Note: Displayed patent counts refer to counts of "utility" patents.

Classes of Technology

The class breakouts available in this table 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 2003.

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 this table, 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 2003.

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.

Analyzing the Data

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

Printing the Report

Some web browsers permit acceptable printing of this report table directly from the web page. Importing the web page into spreadsheet or word-processing software may allow a user additional flexibility for formatting the table for printing. Check the corresponding software documentation for details.


Contacts

Questions regarding these reports should be directed to:

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Office of Electronic Information Products - PTMD (formerly TAF Branch)
MDW - 4C18; P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313

tel: (571) 272-5600
FAX: (571) 273-0110
email oeip@uspto.gov

address of PTMD Internet pages : http://www.uspto.gov/go/taf/tafp.html
ftp download of PTMD reports from : ftp.uspto.gov/pub/taf/

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