US Utility Patent Application Status.

by Dennis Crouch

This updated chart groups patent applications by filing date and then divides each group into three categories: Patented, Abandoned, and Pending.  Some insights from the data:

• The grant rate rose substantially from 2011 to 2018. This may be due to the movement among patent attorneys to draft more technical and detailed patent applications. I have not yet attempted to measure whether the increase marks a new level of patent application complexity. (Remember, I’m comparing applications filed in 2011 to those filed in 2018).
• Abandonments typically occur after multiple rounds of prosecution. Thus, there are only a few abandonments in applications pending less than three years.  (Look at the applications filed in early 2021).
• Less than 10% of cases are still pending after 4-years of prosecution, with most issuances happening within 30-months of filing.

For data consistency, I used only published applications as I generally cannot see abandoned/pending data for unpublished applications.  In addition, some of the issued patents have already expired after failing to pay the maintenance fees. Those expired patents were categorized in this chart as patented.