Guess How Many US Patents are Currently “In Force”?

Hello from Washington DC! I am currently attending the ABA’s 23rd Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference in Arlington, Virginia. There is nothing like a party of 600+ patent attorneys from around the globe, although it is interfering with my blogging and coverage of The Masters!

As you can imagine, these conferences are filled with great unusual statistics; one of which is the number of US patents that are currently “in force.” In other words, of the millions of US patents that have issued, how many are currently enforceable? (i.e. in term and have had the requisite maintenance fees paid). Today I learned that the number of US patents in force is approximately 1.7 million! Thus, you only have to worry about infringing a possible 1.7 patents. Doesn’t that let you sleep well at night?

David Dawsey  – The IP Golf Guy