The USPTO issued 47,042 patents in Q3, a decline of 3.2 percent from the previous quarter and the lowest total this year. The number of published applications was also down slightly, dropping to 76,040 from 81,288 in Q2. Despite this slowdown the USPTO is still on track to exceed last year’s total of 312,854 published applications. More than 2.2 million applications have been published since 2001.

Table 1. Quarterly Patent and PGPub Counts*

2009 ….. Patents (B) …..PGPubs (A)….. Total (A + B)
Q1 ….. 49,227 ….. 83,855 ….. 133,112
Q2 ….. 48,596 ….. 81,288 ….. 129,884
Q3 ….. 47,042 ….. 76,040 ….. 123,082

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 Totals may change after the fact due to withdrawn patents and published applications.

Table 2. Weekly Averages and Medians (Q3)

Patents ….. 3,619 ….. 3,729
PGPubs ….. 5,697 ….. 5,768

Table 3. Number Ranges for 2009, Jan. 1 – Sept. 30

Utility patents ….. 7,472,428 – 7,596,812
Reissues ….. RE40,613 – RE40,925
PGPubs ….. 2009/0000001 – 2009/0241233
Designs ….. D584,026 – D601,325
Plants …… PP19,613 – PP20,374
SIRs ….. H2,228 – H2,232