Jumbo Patents on the Decline.

Over the past decade, we have seen a steep decline in “jumbo” patents. In my estimation, this is largely due to fee increases instituted in 2004 that make it cost prohibitive to file a large number of claims. Many applicants find it more economical to file two patents each with fewer claims rather than a single patent with more claims. In addition, the PTO continues to have an active restriction practice.

14 thoughts on “Jumbo Patents on the Decline.

  1. 6

    Regarding: “economical to file two patents each with fewer claims rather than a single patent with more claims”

    The analysis of USPTO cost per claim, should also consider USPTO maintenance fees. Including maintenance fees in the analysis, will shift the optimum number of claims per patent to a higher value.

    [but there are many, many other considerations which also impact the number of patents and claims per patent.]

  2. 5

    Is there an easy way to find the handful of patents granted last year with the highest number of claims?

    1. 4.1

      It would be interesting to see a graph modified to account for restrictions by placing the claim count of the children with the parent.Side by side would be a great indicator of just how extensive an effect restrictions have been.If more detail is available, then we could dive into restriction by type and see just how far down the rabbit hole goes.

  3. 3

    Restrictions go up; fees go up … number of claims go down. (Not that having so many claims is very helpful in most cases anyway.)- Michael Feiginhttp://PatentLawNJ.com

  4. 2

    The chart is completely misleading since you didn’t plot absolute numbers. You should probably also plot this against the number of rejections per year, to ensure that you provide a complete picture and aren’t chumming in support of a Marxist-anti-patent ideology. Isn’t there some kind of ethical rule or term of use governing the use of bar charts?

    1. 2.2

      Isn’t there some kind of ethical rule or term of use governing the use of bar charts?Probably. You’d have to check with the patent bar association.

  5. 1

    I wonder if an increase in the issuance of restriction requirements also led to this result. One can also imagine the trend to “smaller” patent filings being the norm after the switch to the first to file system, i.e., inventors opting to file quickly as opposed to amassing data for a large application for fear of being scooped.

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