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 Number totals may change due to withdrawn patents and published applications.