USPTO Series Code 13

The USPTO is now using series code 13 for patent application serial numbers assigned from the end of 2010 forward. The first application in the series, 13/000,001, was published on May 26, 2011 (2011/0121738A1). Series code 12 was in use from December 2007 to early 2011.

2011 U.S. Patent Statistics

In 2011 the USPTO issued 225,777 patents and published 321,181 applications for a total of 568,577 patent documents, a 1.5 percent decrease from 2010. The USPTO has published approximately 2.9 million utility and plant patent applications since March 15, 2001. Published applications now account for about 30 percent of all U.S. patent documents.


On August 16, 2011, the USPTO issued patent 8,000,000 to Second Sight Medical Products for a visual prosthesis apparatus. Patent 7,000,000 was issued on Feb. 14, 2006. The time interval between "millionth" patents has decreased to 5.5 years.

Table 1. Quarterly Patent Document Counts*
2011 ..... Patents (B) ..... PGPubs (A) ..... Total (A + B)
Q1 ..... 62,132 ..... 78,828 ..... 140,613
Q2 ..... 58,915 ..... 83,279 ..... 142,194
Q3 ..... 62,365 ..... 77,221 ..... 139,586
Q4 ..... 64,331 ..... 81,853 ..... 146,184

Table 2. Patent Number Ranges, Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2011*

Utility patents ..... 7,861,317 - 8,087,093 (225,777)
Reissues ..... RE42,020 - RE43,052 (1,033)
PGPubs ..... 2011/0000001 - 2011/0321,207 (321,181)
Designs ..... D629,996 - D651,375 (21,380)
Plants ...... PP20,816 - PP22,427 (1,612)
SIRs ..... H2,251-H2,265 (15)

*Based on preliminary weekly data from the USPTO website. Number totals may change due to withdrawn patents and published applications.

USPTO Resdesigns Website

The USPTO has updated its homepage, the first major redesign in more than five years. The new design is modern and eye-catching. Unfortunately, the search interface of the USPTO patent database looks like it did in 1999. 

Strong Growth in Patent Applications Worldwide

Applications for patents and other forms of IP rebounded strongly in 2010, so says a new report from WIPO.
Inventors and companies filed 1.98 million patent applications worldwide in 2010, a new record. China and the U.S. accounted for about 80 percent of the growth. Canada experienced a slight decline of 5.1 percent; however, residents of Canada filed more than 80 percent of their patent applications in other countries.

PatentScope Adds Russian/Soviet Patents

PatentScope now includes records for Russian and Soviet patent documents from 1919 to 2010, about 1.4 million patent documents. Full-text is not include, but abstracts are available from 1960 forward.