Patent backlogs
The increasing stock of pending applications at patent offices waiting to be examined.
In the 1980s, with the emergence of the new fields of science and an extension of patent laws into new patentable areas in the US.
Globalization,institutional changes, and the arrival of emerging economies in the patent arena contributed further to propensity to patent. Today, this trend is frequently coined as
'global patent warming'
Since the early1980s the average patent application size on both sides of the Atlantic has doubled
resulting in an average of 22 (24) claims filed nowadays at the EPO (USPTO)
(there are 9 claims per patent in Japan, against more than 20 in the US and Europe).
Pendency has worsened over the past 8 years at the USPTO, while it was stable at the JPO and
decreased at the EPO.
Contributing Factors
- The wider the lists of patentable subject matters the more applications will be filed at the patent office. The US is well known for its liberal approach to the scope of patentable subject matter.
- High turnover of employees at the USPTO (about 33%): the average examiner stays only 3 years.
- Cost. Having a European patent granted costs more than $ 10,000 --vs. < $ 4,000 in the US.
