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From: srctran@world.std.com (Gregory Aharonian)
Subject: 1994 US software patent statistics
Message-ID: <D384sG.Jpo@world.std.com>
Followup-To: patents@world.std.com
Keywords: software, patents, prior art, 4569
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 1995 15:09:52 GMT
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                       1994 US SOFTWARE PATENT STATISTICS

   Welcome to Software Patents Week, where you will be subjected to the most
gruesome of statistics of the inability of patent offices around the world to
handle the novelty aspects of software patenting.  The schedule is as follows:

	Monday:     4569 1994 US software patent
	Tuesday:    Inadequacy of PCT/PTO/EPO/JPO software prior art analysis
	Wednesday:  Worst software patents of the year
	Thursday:   What's (not) being done to address the problem
	Friday:     Reader feedback on this issue (send it in)


                              ====================

    What can I say?  The numbers speak for themselves.  In 1994, 4569 software
patents (according to the Greg classification scheme) were issued.  With at
least 5500 to be issued in 1995, what the PTO is saying is that in the 1991 to
1993 time period there were 10,000 NEW, UNPUBLISHED software ideas.  I think
NOT.

    "Hot" topics for software patenting include object oriented programming,
interactive television, networking, health care and automobiles.  Software
patents were issued in the following categories (with 1994 counts - some
patents counted in more than one category).  The following figures can be
freely cited, as long as credit is given to the News service.

			623	Image processing
			532	Networks/communications
			448	Operating systems
			374	Process/numerical control
			337	Graphics
			292	Medical / health care
			241	Engineering
			232	Automobiles / transportation
			223	Graphical user interface
			211	Signal processing
			173	Database
			166	Computer aided software engineering
			162	Security / encryption
			149	CAE / Circuit Design
			147	Financial / management
			151	Office automation
			129	CAD / Computer aided design
			121	Word processing
			119	Physics
			103	Navigation
			 95	Speech recognition/synthesis
			 92	Robotics
			 89	Neural networks
			 88	Distributed processing
			 86	Pattern recognition
			 78	Compression
			 78	Artificial intelligence
			 71	Biology
			 70	Music
			 67	Natural language analysis
			 66	Numerical analysis
			 62	Character recognition
			 57	Multiprocessing
			 56	Algorithms
			 51	Chemistry
			 49	Object oriented programming
			 48	Games
			 47	Geophysical
			 47	Fuzzy logic
			 38	Simulation
			 34	Vision
			 33	Education
			 28	Parallel programming
			 26	Virtual reality
			  8	Spreadsheets
			  6	Biotechnology

along with the following corporate software patent assignees (* = Japanese):

			396	IBM
			189	*Hitachi
			107	DEC
			107	Xerox & Fuji Xerox
			107	*Toshiba
			 97	Hewlett-Packard
			 82	*Fujitsu
			 70	*Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
			 68	Motorola
			 68	*Matsushita Electric Industrial
			 65	*Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
			 61	ATT Bell Laboratories
			 50	General Electric
			 49	*Ricoh
			 39	Eastman Kodak
			 39	*Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
			 36	U.S. Navy / Army / Air Force
			 36	*Fanuc
			 35	Sun Microsystem
			 34	Intel
			 32	*NEC
			 30	*Yamaha
			 30	*Honda
			 27	*Brother Kyogo Kabushiki Kaisha
			 27	Texas Instruments
			 24	Bell Communications Research
			 23	Sony
			 22	Hughes Aircraft
			 21	Microsoft
			 21	Ford Motor
			 20	Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
			 20	Samsung Electronics
			 20	Apple Computer
			 19	Honeywell
			 17	*Fuji Photo Film
			 17	*Casio Computer
			 16	Westinghouse Electric
			 16	Unisys
			 15	Schlumberger Technology
			 14	*Zexel
			 14	*Pioneer Electronic
			 13	E.I. Du Pont de Nemours
			 13	VLSI Technology
			 13	Pitney Bowes
			 13	*Dainippon Screen Manufacturing
			 13	*Konica
			 13	*Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
			 13	Rockwell International
			 12	Compaq Computer
			 12	*Nissan Motor
			 12	France Telecom


   In 1995, the flood continues, with an all-time weekly high of 125 software
patents issued in the first week of January.  Many of the patent subjects are
trivial - source code generators, menus and windows, image processing for
finding objects, etc.  For example, here are some titles to pending software
patents: automatic switching between GUI control and command line control,
resolution independent rendering of graphic images, subroutine tracing for
monitoring real time programs, 22 patents from Taligent claiming everything
in the OO world, real-time robot arm control, virtual reality car driving
simulation, detecting changes in moving images, etc.

   As I will write about tomorrow, the fundamental problem behind this excess
of software patents is the inability of the patent offices around the world to
conduct prior art searches and novelty analyses.  While software is something
to be patented with the same patenting rules and statutues as all other
technologies, software prior art as a process is vastly different from most
other fields of technology.     2.1 is inexcusable.

   One negative side effect of these patents is a growing number of software
infringement lawsuits, especially in multimedia/entertainment and financial
industries.  Issued patents are already causing lawsuits, as will some of the
pending patents for broad concepts. Fortunately, patent infringement insurance
is available - unfortunately, it costs in the range of $50,000 a year.

   Stay tuned.

Greg Aharonian
Internet Patent News Service
(for subscription info, send 'help' to   patents@world.std.com )
(for prior art search services info, send 'prior' to patents@world.std.com )
(for WWW patent searching, try  http://sunsite.unc.edu/patents/intropat.html )
