Skip menu navigation Home > Listing of PTMT Viewable Reports > University Report Table of Contents > Extended Annual Data University Listing > This Page


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


U.S. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES-
UTILITY PATENT GRANTS,
CALENDAR YEARS 1969-2012

- this report was created with support from the National Science Foundation -


BREAKOUT BY TECHNOLOGY CLASS, EXTENDED ANNUAL DATA -
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, 2012 (1). 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 (in the extended annual data tables, annual counts are available for each year since 1969).

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 three types as follows:

ALL U.S. UNIVERSITIES, COMBINED:

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. colleges and universities.

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

TOP 250 R&D UNIVERSITIES, COMBINED:

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 the top 250 academic institutions ranked according to R&D expenditures in fiscal year 2011 (3).

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

INDIVIDUAL LISTINGS FOR EACH TOP 250 R&D UNIVERSITY:

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 university ranked in the top 250 academic institutions according to R&D expenditures in fiscal year 2011 (3).

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 475 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 2012.

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 2012.

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 (HISTORICALLY, ABOUT 35% 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 (for utility patents), the data in these tables for 2003 to December 2012 are incomplete. This is because a significant number of the applications filed from 2003 to December 2012 which will ultimately become patents were still pending in December 2012. Since they had not yet become patents as of December 2012, 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 12/31/2012, utility patent data, as distributed by year of filing, are approximately 95% complete for utility patent applications filed in 2004, 89% complete for applications filed in 2005, 80% complete for applications filed in 2006, 67% complete for applications filed in 2007, 49% complete for applications filed in 2008, 36% complete for applications filed in 2009, and 19% complete for applications filed in 2010; data are essentially complete for applications filed prior to 2004. About 90% of all patent documents granted by USPTO (i.e., including utility, design, plant, and reissue patents, statutory invention registrations, and defensive publications) are utility patent grants.

(3) - Academic institutions ranked in the top 250 for R&D expenditures in FY 2011 were identified from the National Science Foundation report, Higher Education Research and Development: Fiscal Year 2011, Table 13, Institution rankings ranked by FY 2011 R&D expenditures : FY 2004-2011. This NSF report, based on NSF's fiscal year 2011 Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey , collects the separately budgeted research and development expenditures reported by universities and colleges.

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

The names of the top 250 R&D academic institutions in the NSF report are shown in the table, 'Total R&D Expenditures at U.S. Colleges and Universities: Top 250 Institutions in R&D Expenditures in Fiscal Year 2011', available elsewhere in this patent report (Table of Contents section (1E)).

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 2011. 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. As a result, for some academic institutions in the NSF top 250, 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 250 Institutions in R&D Expenditures in Fiscal Year 2011' (Table of Contents section (1E)) shows the assignee names on U.S. patents that most closely correspond to the academic institutions in the NSF top 250, and for which patent counts are provided in these drill-down tables. 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.


PTMT Contacts

Questions regarding these reports should be directed to:

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Electronic Information Products Division - PTMT
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313

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

address of PTMT pages at the USPTO Internet Web Site : http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/reports.htm
selected PTMT materials available for download at : http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/data/


Top

Skip menu navigation Home > Listing of PTMT Viewable Reports > University Report Table of Contents > Extended Annual Data University Listing > This Page