8 Million U.S. Patents and Counting

The United States Patent and Trademark Office reached another milestone when it issued U.S. Patent No. 8,000,000 this week.

According to the USPTO website, "[u]nder the current numbering system for patents, number 1 was issued in 1836. A million patents later, number 1,000,000 was issued by the United States in 1911. The U.S. Patent and Trademark office issued patent number 8,000,000 on August 16, 2011."

The rate of patent grants has certainly been accelerating over the last 20 years.  U.S. Patent No. 7,000,000 issued on Valentines day in 2006, just over 5 years ago.  It took about 15 years to get from U.S. Patent 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 (which issued in 1991) and about 75 years to get from U.S. Patent No. 1 to U.S. Patent No. 1,000,000!