2019 Trends and Insights

2019 was a strong year for US patents. 333,530 patent grants were issued by the USPTO—an all-time high. After a down year in 2018, US patent grants rebounded by a solid 15%. US published applications grew by a smaller 5%.

Why the increase? Part of the reason may be improved clarity over what is patentable after the Supreme Court’s 2014 Alice v. CLS Bank decision. See the IPWatchdog post by Kate Gaudry & Samuel Hayim Update on 101 Rejections at the USPTO: Prospects for Computer-Related Applications Continue to Improve Post-Guidance.

The growth in patent activity appears despite a slowdown in US capital spending. See the Bloomberg report U.S. Manufacturers Plan First Pullback in Investment Since 2009.

A chart of US utility grants and published pre-grant applications is shown below. Applications are fairly flat while grants decline in 2018 and rebound in 2019.

Countries

IFI CLAIMS looked at the countries where the US patent recipients are based. The US leads, followed by Japan and Korea. China shows the strongest growth, continuing a well-established trend.

Regions

Looking at the largest patent-producing regions, North America and Asia showed gains. Europe showed a slight decline.

Companies

Top 50 companies that showed strong gains include:

• Kia Motors – jumps 55 places to #41
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise – jumps 28 places to #48
• Facebook – jumps 22 places to #36
• Huawei – Huawei jumps up six places to #10
• Micron Technology – Micron jumps 9 places to #25
• BOE Technology – BOE jumps up 4 places to #13
• Microsoft – Microsoft jumps 3 places to #4
• LG Chem – LG Chem breaks into the top 50 at #50

Technologies

IFI CLAIMS looked at US patent grants by Cooperative Patent Classification codes. The high-technology classes dominate, as they have for several years. G06F and H04L are the largest classes. A61B (medical devices) showed a strong gain while A61K (pharmaceuticals) showed a modest gain of 5%. G06Q (business methods) showed a strong gain. Business methods and software have been areas with patentability questions.

Rank	CPC Classification	2019	2018	Change	Definition
1	G06F	58,821	48,425	23.5%	ELECTRICAL DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
2	H04L	39,301	33,334	17.9%	TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
3	H01L	28,373	25,443	11.6%	SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
4	H04W	24,288	21,408	13.5%	WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS
5	H04N	20,062	17,592	14.0%	PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
6	A61B	17,447	13,875	25.7%	DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
7	G06Q	15,873	11,504	38.0%	DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS OR METHODS, SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORY OR FORECASTING PURPOSES…
8	A61K	14,183	13,474	5.2%	PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL, OR TOILET PURPOSES
9	G06T	12,809	9,672	32.4%	IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION
10	G02B	12,653	10,055	25.8%	OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS, OR APPARATUS
11	G06K	11,910	8,988	26.8%	RECOGNITION OF DATA; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
12	G01N	11,788	9,941	13.5%	INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
13	H04B	11,495	9,776	13.9%	TRANSMISSION
14	H05K	7,027	6,657	2.6%	PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
15	Y02T	6,778	6,806	-3.7%	CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION
16	A61M	6,330	5,122	23.6%	DEVICES FOR INTRODUCING MEDIA INTO, OR ONTO, THE BODY
17	G09G	6,497	5,147	26.2%	ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
18	C12N	5,956	5,878	1.3%	MICROORGANISMS OR ENZYMES
19	A61F	5,891	4,728	20.1%	FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS
20	G02F	5,864	4,725	24.1%	DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS, THE OPTICAL OPERATION OF WHICH IS MODIFIED BY CHANGING THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIUM OF THE DEVICES