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U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
Patent Technology Monitoring Team (PTMT)

U.S. GOVERNMENT UTILITY PATENT GRANTS,
CALENDAR YEARS 1969-2008

- 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. GOVERNMENT ENTITIES

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. Government entities. 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, 2008 (1). Counts of patents granted since 1969 are displayed in 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 (2). Counts of patent applications received are not displayed in these reports..

These tables are divided into two types as follows:

ALL U.S. GOVERNMENT ENTITIES:

This table displays counts of utility patents (i.e., 'patents for inventions') by technology class (1) for the entire group of patents that has been associated with any and all identified U.S. Government entities.

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

INDIVIDUAL LISTINGS FOR EACH IDENTIFIED U.S. GOVERNMENT ENTITY:

Each of these tables displays counts of utility patents (i.e., 'patents for inventions') by technology class (1) for the entire group of patents that has been associated with a U.S. Government entity.

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

Footnotes:

(1) - 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 470 total classes and 165,000 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 2008.

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 2008.

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.

(2) - 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 32 months, the data in these tables for 2000 - December 2008 are incomplete. This is because a significant number of the applications filed from 2000 - December 2008 which will ultimately become patents were still pending in December 2008. Since they had not yet become patents as of December 2008, 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.

For patents granted through 12/31/2008, utility patent data, as distributed by application date, are approximately 98% complete for patent applications filed in 2000, 93% complete for patent applications filed in 2001, 90% complete for 2002 filings, 78% complete for 2003 filings, 60% complete for applications filed in 2004, 37% complete for applications filed in 2005, and 17% complete for applications filed in 2006; data are essentially complete for applications filed prior to 2000.

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 for analysis and data manipulation. Check the spreadsheet software documentation for details.

Printing the Tables

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