Missouri Patents Increase

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the number of patents issued increased in Missouri by 11.6% over the previous year to 877 total in 2009. Eighty-one percent of last year's patents in Missouri were utility patents. These patents are issued for inventions, such as a new machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or a new and useful improvement. Another 164 patents were categorized as design patents, issued for the design of visual ornamental characteristics of an article of manufacture.

The USPTO categorizes patents into five categories: utility, design, plant, reissue, and statutory invention registrations (SIR). The most common of patents are utility patents, also known as "patents for inventions".

 

Missouri by Classification 
Sixteen percent of the top ten classifications were issued in life sciences for 2009. Between 2005 and 2009 at least one patent was issued for 296 of the 401 classes of patents in Missouri. These came predominantly from life science categories: Drug, Bio-Affecting and Body Treating Compositions; Multicellular Living Organisms; Organic Compounds; and Chemistry - Molecular and Microbiology. They accounted for 15.2 percent of all patents issued in Missouri between 2005 and 2009.

Top Missouri Utility Patents Classes 2005 to 2009
Class Title	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Total
Drug, Bio-Affecting and Body Treating Compositions (includes Class 514)	53	60	30	21	31	195
Multicellular Living Organisms and Unmodified Parts Thereof and Related Processes	14	20	27	21	28	110
Organic Compounds (includes Classes 532-570)	15	20	25	27	22	109
Chemistry: Molecular Biology and Microbiology	16	18	26	20	20	100
Surgery (includes Class 600)	18	20	13	13	10	74
Measuring and Testing	9	9	12	14	16	60
Communications: Electrical	9	6	16	10	13	54
Refrigeration	7	11	12	12	8	50
Beds	9	9	7	16	7	48
Dispensing (apparatus and process)	7	7	11	10	13	48
Aeronautics and Astronautics	8	15	6	10	9	48
Multiplex Communications	9	7	5	9	17	47
Electrical Connectors	8	10	10	10	9	47
Metal Working	8	11	8	6	11	44
DP: Measuring, Calibrating, or Testing (Data Processing)	6	9	11	12	5	43
Fluid Handling	11	8	5	4	12	40
DP: Generic Control Systems or Specific Applications (Data Processing)	5	11	9	5	10	40
Multicomputer Data Transferring (Electrical Computers and Digital Processing Systems)	3	12	4	8	13	40
Land Vehicles	7	9	12	6	5	39
Telecommunications	2	8	14	7	7	38

State Comparison 
Missouri ranked twenty-seventh nationally in the number of patents issued in 2009 and second among its border states, trailing only Illinois. The top five states were California (23,354), accounting for nearly a quarter of all patents, followed by Texas (6,436), New York (6,127), Washington (4,856) and Massachusetts (4,038).

Source: http://www.uspto.gov