U of CA received most patents

PRESS RELEASE #99-39
October 22, 1999 Contact: Maria V. Hernandez
Brigid Quinn
703-305-8341

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA CONTINUES TO RECEIVE MOST PATENTS

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) today announced the top ten U.S. universities with the most patents received January 1998 - December 1998. Listed below are the ten universities that received the most utility patents for inventions for calendar year 1998, along with their ranking for 1997.

"Patents are an integral part of the American economy, notes acting Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Q. Todd Dickinson. The number of patent applications has been rising dramatically as the United States experiences its largest peacetime economic expansion. This year we anticipate issuing 160,000 patents, nearly 10,000 more than in 1998," Dickinson adds.

Rank in 1998 # of Patents
State
Rank
(in 1997) Number
(Patents in 1997)

1
395 University of California (1) (277)

2
138 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2) (102)

3
98 University of Texas (3) (81)

4
93 California Institute of Technology (10) (46)

5
83 University of Wisconsin (5) (62)

6
79 Stanford University (4) (64)

79 Johns Hopkins University (9) (48)

8
69 University of Pennsylvania (6) (55)

9
65 Cornell University (8) (50)

10
59 Michigan State University (13) (41)

The PTO is the Commerce Department's user fee-funded bureau that administers laws relevant to granting patents and registering trademarks; advises the Secretary of Commerce, the President of the United States, and the Administration on patent, trademark and copyright protection; and advises the Secretary of Commerce, the President of the United States, and the Administration on the trade-related aspects of intellectual property. Nearly 6 million utility patents have been issued since the first patent in 1790.

Editor's Note: Patent counts in 1998 are based on utility patents granted between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 1998. If more than one assignee was declared at the time of patent grant, patent ownership is attributed to the first-named assignee, for statistical reporting purposes.

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