Calendar Year 1992 Patenting Trends


During calendar year 1992, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
issued a record 107,510 patents (including utility, design, plant,
and reissue patents and statutory invention registrations). This
total represents an increase of 1 percent from the 1991 total. Of
these 1992 patents, 58,792 (54.7 percent) were issued to U.S. -
resident inventors while 48,718 (45.3 percent) were issued to
inventors residing outside the United States.

The U.S.- resident inventor share of patents increased for the
fourth straight year. The 54.7 percent U.S. - resident inventor
share for 1992 is considerably higher than the U.S. - resident
inventor share for 1991 (54.1 percent) and is substantially above
the 53.0 percent share obtained in 1988.

The number of U.S. patents granted to residents of Japan increased
3 percent in 1992 and the Japan - resident inventor share of all
patents is 21.5 percent for 1992, up from a 21.0 percent share in
1991. The number of U.S. patents granted to residents of Germany
declined 5 percent in 1992 and the German - resident inventor share
of all patents granted in 1992 is 7.1 percent, down from a 7.5
percent share in 1991.

The ten foreign countries which received the most patents during
CALENDAR YEAR 1992 are shown below. In general, only slight changes
in ranking will occur from one year to the next.

 Rank   (Rank in 1982)   Country                   # Patents in 1992

  1        (1)           Japan                     21,925
  2        (2)           Germany                    7,311
  3        (4)           France                     3,029
  4        (3)           United Kingdom             2,425
  5        (6)           Canada                     1,964
  6        (7)           Italy                      1,271
  7        (5)           Switzerland                1,196
  8       (18)           China (Taiwan)             1,000
  9        (9)           Netherlands                  855
 10        (8)           Sweden                       627


_______________________________________________________________________
SOURCE:      U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
             (2-17-93)

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