by Dennis Crouch
The USPTO issued ~325,800 utility patents in calendar year 2025, a figure virtually unchanged from the ~325,600 issued in 2024. This stability marks another year in what has become a post-pandemic plateau for utility patent issuances, with annual totals hovering around this mark since 2021. The days of dramatic year-over-year growth appear to be behind us, at least for now. Over the past two years, allowance rates have also remained virtually unchanged.
Design patents tell a different story. The 52k design patents issued in 2025 represent a 10% increase over 2024 and mark the highest annual total on record. This growth reflects the continued global importance of design protection, with non-U.S. applicants increasingly seeking design patent rights in the American market. The design patent surge stands in contrast to the flat utility numbers and suggests that different forces are shaping these two branches of patent protection.
