Monday, January 28, 2013

US Patent Statistics for 2012

The USPTO issued 276,820 patents and published 331,583 applications in calendar year 2012, 7 percent more than in 2011 and an all-time high of 608,403 patent documents.Table 1 shows the number of documents by type.

No milestones were reached in 2012, but in 2013 it's virtually guaranteed that the USPTO will issue patent no. 8,500,000. And design patents are rapidly approaching the 700,000 mark.

Table 1. US Patents by Type Issued in 2012*

TypeTotal
Utility patents253,178
Reissue patents822
Design patents21,952
Plant patents860
SIRs8
Applications331,583


*Based on preliminary data from the USPTO website. Totals may change after the fact due to withdrawn patents and published applications.

Table 2. US Patent Number Ranges, Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2012
TypeFirst NumberLast Number
Utility patent8,087,0948,341,760
Reissue patentRE43,053RE43,883
Design patentD651,376D673,345
Plant patentPP22,428PP23,287
SIRH2,266H2,273
Utility application2012/00000012012/321207
Plant application2012/00057942012/331605

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Jury Awards Carnegie Mellon University $1.16 Billion in Patent Lawsuit

A jury has awarded Carnegie Mellon University more than $1.16 billion in a patent infringement lawsuit against a tech firm based in Santa Clara, California. An appeal is expected, but if the verdict stands this could be the largest patent infringement award in U.S. history.