The USPTO issued 326,076 patents in 2014, an increase of 6.7 percent over 2013, and published 380,457 utility and plant patent applications, up 9.6 percent. The total number of U.S. patent documents published in 2014 increased to 706,553, another all-time high. Table 1 shows the number of documents by type.

Table 1. US Patents by Type Issued in 2014*

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 Totals may change after the fact due to withdrawn patents and published applications.

The USPTO is rapidly approaching the 9,000,000 mark for utility patents. At the current rate of about 5,700 utility patents per week, it is likely that patent no. 9,000,000 will be issued in March or April of 2015.

The number of Statutory Invention Registrations declined to 6 from 13, a drop of 53.8 percent. The USPTO abolished SIRs in 2013.

Table 2. US Patent Number Ranges, Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2014