Drone Intellectual Property Index Q3 2015
© ATIP Law 2015
Drone Intellectual Property Index — Third Quarter 2015
The number of granted drone patents increased 26% and the number of published drone patent applications increased 11%.
The number of registered drone trademarks increased 6% and the number of new drone trademarks applications increased by just over 1%.
Overall, the index increased 11% over the previous quarter and 57% over the previous year.
The done industry continues to make strong gains, but the smaller increases in trademarks may indicate we are entering into a slower growth period.
Definitions
We attempt to limit the Drone Intellectual Property Index to patents and patent applications that appear to be substantially related to and specifically intended for use with drones. Since drones use a very wide range of technologies (please see our drone technology article), we do not attempt to include every patent or application that could be applied to drones.
As we use it here, the term “drone” includes any autonomous vehicle.
Drone patent applications are applications that have been filed with and published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Although most applications are published, a small percentage (about 7% nation wide) are not published for various reasons. Patent applications are generally published 18 months after the first priority date of the application. Published applications have not necessarily been examined and some applications will be abandoned after publication. Once an application is examined and approved and all fees and formalities have been satisfied, the Patent Office grants a patent.
Drone trademark applications are applications that have been filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and that are related to drone products and services. Once a trademark application has been examined and approved and all requirements and formalities have been satisfied, it becomes a registered trademark.
More Information
Please see our intellectual property page for more information on intellectual property, our patent page for more information on patents and our trademark page for more information on trademarks.
Please contact us if we can be of assistance to you.