Publications

A record 151,024 U.S. Patents issued in 1998. This was 33% more than the 113,720 that issued in 1997. Several reasons have been cited for this huge increase in U.S. Patents:

• Intellectual property, particularly patents, is becoming more important to both the bottom line and the long term future of large and small corporations.

• More companies are licensing out their technology. For example, IBM made more than $1 billion in licensing fees from over 1,600 different companies in 1998.

• Corporations are finding more situations where it is more cost effective to file patents on their technology improvements than protecting them as trade secrets.

• New technological fields such as software, bio-technology and the Internet are all the focus of more patent filings. Patents are increasingly replacing copyrights as the principal protection of software. As a result, the number of software-related patents in 1998 was about 17,500, compared to only about 1,600 in 1992.

• More and more small companies and individuals are now aggressively pursuing patents. Patents are making smaller companies more attractive to investment bankers and underwriters than even five (5) years ago.

• Research and Development (R&D) budgets have increased in the past few years. In 1998, U.S. companies spent $143.7 billion (an increase of 9.7% over the previous year), according to R&D Magazine.

• In view of this increased patent activity, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office increased the number of patent examiners by 20% last year. This added workforce helped reduce the time for receiving a patent. Currently, the average patent pendancy from the application filing date to the patent issue date is 23 months.