Patents in force as a percentage of total patent applications

In 2022, the percentage of patents in force of total applications summed up to 3.7 percent. That was a decrease of around ten percent compared to the previous year. The ratio of active patents to applications fell rapidly since 2017.

Patents in force as a percentage of total patent applications worldwide from 1999 to 2022

Characteristic	Percentage of applications
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Release date

November 2023

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

1999 to 2022

Supplementary notes

Note: Percentages are calculated as the number of patent applications filed in year t and in force in 2022, divided by the total number of patent applications filed in year t. Patent holders must pay maintenance fees to maintain the validity of their patents. Depending on technological and commercial considerations, patent holders may opt to let a patent lapse before the end of the full protection term. This figure shows the distribution of patents in force in 2022 as a percentage of total applications in the year of filing. However, not all offices provide these data. Data for 87 offices show that 39.3% of the applications for which patents were eventually granted remained in force for at least 9 years after the application date, and about 17.8% lasted the full 20-year term.

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