2015 Patent Data

Patent Filings

From Data Visualization Center:

• Total Filings: 580,327
  • RCE (Request for Continued Examination) Filings: 168,594
  • Non-RCE Filings: 411,733
    • Design Filings: 37,735

Patent Litigation

From LexMachina:

• Patent Case Filings: 5,820
  • Cases Open: 3,003
  • Cases Terminated: 2,817

• 44% of FY2015 case filings were through the Eastern District of Texas.
• 29% of FY2015 case filings were viewed by Judge James Rodney Gilstrap.

Patent Legislation

From Govtrack.us:

(114th Congressional Session)

• Total Unique Pieces of Legislation: 101
  • House: 75
    • House Simple: 0
    • House Concurrent: 1 (Same as Senate Concurrent)
  • Senate: 55
    • Senate Simple: 0
    • Senate Concurrent: 1 (Same as House Concurrent)

• Some pieces of legislation are under considerarion in both chambers. I have included repeats in subsets of "House" and "Senate", but NOT in "Unique Pieces of Legislation."
• "Simple" Resolutions affect only that particular chamber in which it is passed. Usually deal with more fluffy policy, such as designating a week in honor of small businesses.
• "Concurrent" Resolutions do not carry the force of law (unlike a joint bill) but must be approved by both chambers in identical form.

Top Patent Legislation

• PATENT Act (36% of enactment)
• STRONG Patents Act of 2015 (4% chance of enactment)
• Innovation Act (36% chance of enactment)
• Innovation Protection Act (5% chance of enactment)
• https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr2045 Targeting Rogue and Opaque Letters Act of 2015] (24% chance of enactment)

Not So Top Patent Legislation

• Demand Letter Transparency Act of 2015 (0% chance of enactment)
• End Anonymous Patents Act (0% chance of enactment)
• PARTS Act (0% enactment)

Sources & Links

• Patentlyo FY2015 Filings Article
• USPTO Data Visualization Center
• FY2014 USPTO Report (Provides More Detail than FY2015 Data)
• FY2014 USPTO Patent Statistics
• LexMachina FY2015 Patent Case Filings
• US District Court - Eastern District of Texas