State & City Patent Statistics Table & Map

The nonprofit State Science and Technology Institute has taken raw data from the USPTO and compiled it into a statistical table that indicates number of patents issued per 100,000 employees by state for FY 2003-2007. The USPTO bases the state of origin of a patent on the resident of the first-named inventor.

Notable trends for this time period include:

• In 2007 the top five states for number of patents issued per 100,000 employees were: Idaho (210.1), Vermont (179.9), California (144.5), Washington (133.1), and Oregon (132.1)
  
• In 2007 the five states/district with the lowest number of patents issued per 100,000 employees were: Alaska (7.7) , District of Columbia (10.5), Hawaii (13.1), Arkansas (14.4), and Louisiana (15.7).
  
• Only seven states and the District of Columbia increased the number of patents per employee: Washington (40.3%), North Dakota (36.5%), D.C. (36.3%), Rhode Island (15.1%), Vermont (13.7%), Oregon (10.6%), Kansas (0.8%), and Nebraska (0.6%).
  
• Texas has consistently ranked 19th or 20th in the number of patents issued per 100,000 employees.

If you'd something more exciting than a table, FreePatentsOnline has come up with an inventive way to display geographic inventor data by creating a Google maps mash-up. Starting with their map of the U.S., click on a state, then a city, then a number (number of patent applications from that area) to see a list of recent patent application numbers and titles contained in their database. You can also use the application numbers to do a "Publication Number Search" in the USPTO applications (AppFT) database.

14th Annual Independent Inventors Conference

The USPTO and the National Inventors Hall of Fame are sponsoring the 14th Annual Independent Inventors Conference at the USPTO campus in Alexandria, Virgina, on Nov. 5-6, 2009. Speakers will include:

• David Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO
  
• Roger Kilmer, Director of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) at the USPTO and
  
• Don Skomsky inventor and winner of NASA's International Create the Future new technology competition.

Registration is now open and the $120 registration fee includes two days worth of sessions and presentations, refreshments, and lunch. The registration fee also includes access to a pre-conference workshop on Nov. 4 from 5-7 p.m. for beginners to learn about the basics of the patent process.

The American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) are also sponsoring an opening night (Thurs.) reception to foster networking opportunities.