Independent Inventors (electronic surveys)

Patent Application Forecasting Program
Part 1: Patent Application Activity
To serve you in a timely fashion and at high levels of quality, the USPTO relies on reliable forecasts of future
patent filings to allocate its resources efficiently and effectively. Your answers to the following questions are
very important!
Domestic Filings
1. Please report the number of provisional patent application filings submitted or expected to be submitted in the
years indicated below.

2006

Application Filings
2007
2008

2009

National provisional
applications1
1

A provisional application for a patent is a type of application filed in the USPTO. It allows filing without a formal patent claim,
oath or declaration, or any information disclosure (prior art) statement. It provides the means to establish an early effective filing
date in a non-provisional patent application and automatically becomes abandoned after one year. It also allows the term “Patent
Pending” to be applied.

2. Please report the number of national non-provisional utility patent application filings submitted or expected
to be submitted in the years indicated below.

2006

Application Filings
2007
2008

2009

National non-provisional
applications2
2

These are the most common applications filed at the USPTO. National non-provisional utility patent applications are filed for
inventions or discoveries of any new, useful, and non-obvious process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter,
or any new and useful improvement thereof. A national filing is one submitted under the laws of a country and/or the Paris
Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. Please include all non-provisional utility application filings subject to a
filing fee including a Request for Continued Examination (RCE) filing to reopen prosecution and continue examination of an
application in which prosecution is closed (e.g., the application is under final rejection or a notice of allowance).

3. Please report the number of PCT international application filings submitted or expected to be submitted to the
USPTO Receiving Office for the indicated years.
Application Filings
2006

2007

2008

International applications3

3

International applications are those filed under Chapter One of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

2009

Filings Abroad
4. Please indicate the number of patent filings submitted or expected to be submitted to patent offices other than
the USPTO in 2006 through 2009.

2006

Application Filings
2007
2008

2009

National applications filed abroad
a.

European patent office (EPO)

b. EPO member countries’ offices
(Please see country list below)
c.

Japan patent office

d. All other offices

Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Switzerland
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Germany

EPO Member Countries
Denmark
Hungary
Latvia
Estonia
Ireland
Monaco
Spain
Iceland
Netherlands
Finland
Italy
Poland
France
Liechtenstein
Portugal
United Kingdom
Lithuania
Romania
Hellenic Republic
Luxembourg
Sweden

Slovenia
Slovakia
Turkey

5. Please report the number of PCT international application filings submitted or expected to be submitted
directly to the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 2006 through
2009.

2006
International applications filed
with International Bureau (WIPO)

Application Filings
2007
2008

2009

Part 2: Patent Valuation
6. To help gauge the value created by patents granted, the USPTO is interested in estimating the fair market
value of a U.S. patent. Please select the range that best represents the fair market value of your patent or the
average fair market value of all your patents. For the purpose of this survey, fair market value is the price at
which the patent would change hands at the present time between a willing buyer and a willing seller, with
both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts.
… Less than $500K

… $3M - $3,499,999

… $500K - $999,999

… $3.5M - $3,999,999

… $1M – $1,499,999

… $4M - $4,499,999

… $1.5M – $1,999,999

… $4.5M - $4,999,999

… $2M - $2,499,999

… Greater than $4,999,999

… $2.5M - $2,999,999
Part 3: General Feedback
7. In the space below, please briefly describe any industry trends that may affect your patent application
submissions in the future and/or impacted your ability to accurately report application activity on this
survey.

8. Finally, we are interested in learning about any difficulties you had completing this survey. In the space
below, please comment further on general issues that arose during the course of completing this
questionnaire.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION!
PLEASE RETURN THIS QUESTIONNAIRE TO SYNOVATE IN THE PRE-ADDRESSED,
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Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. This
collection of information is requested as part of the USPTO's efforts to gauge and improve efficiency, quality of output, and customer satisfaction. The data collected
from this survey will be used by the USPTO to improve customer service by allocating resources more effectively. The responses will be aggregated. The information
collected during the survey will be treated confidentially to the extent allowed under the Freedom of Information Act. This collection of information is voluntary in
accordance with E.O. 12862, Setting Customer Service Standards. This mail survey is estimated to take approximately 15 minutes to complete, including the time to
gather the information necessary to complete the survey and to provide responses to Synovate by mail, online, or through a follow-up phone call. The time may vary
depending upon the circumstances of the individual respondent. Any comments on the amount of time required to complete this survey and other aspects of this
collection or suggestions for reducing the burden should be sent to the Chief Information Officer, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Department of Commerce,
P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.
OMB No. 0651-0052 Approval Expires XX/XX/XXXX.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.