Filing trends
USPTO patent application filing history — UPR (Utility, Plant & Reissue) · Fiscal year basis (Oct–Sep)
Peak fiscal year
FY2019
693,882 UPR filings
Latest complete FY
597,252
FY2024 · +2.9% vs prior
FY2026 YTD
—
Oct 2025–present · live
Post-peak low
FY2010
520,277 (-13.9% vs peak)
10-yr growth
-2.9%
FY2014 → FY2024
Unexamined backlog
765,669
May 2026 · USPTO Dashboard
📊 The filing story: USPTO reached its peak of 693,882 UPR filings in FY2019. COVID-19 caused a major drop in FY2020. The most recent complete fiscal year (FY2024) recorded 597,252 filings — +2.9% vs prior year, sitting 13.9% below peak. Unexamined backlog hit ~837K in Jan 2025 before improving to 765,669 (May 2026).
UPR application filings by fiscal yearSource: USPTO Dashboard · FY2025–26 live
Historical (completed FY)Partial / YTD
Live type breakdownQuery any year · live API
Key events timeline
FY2011
America Invents Act
Major patent reform — first-inventor-to-file system
FY2014
Alice Corp. decision
Supreme Court tightens software patent eligibility
FY2019
Peak filings
693,882 UPR applications — all-time high
FY2020
COVID-19 impact
Filing drop + examiner attrition accelerates backlog
FY2022
Vidal era begins
New director — allowance rate trends down
FY2024
Record backlog
837K unexamined apps in Jan 2025 — historic high
FY2025
Backlog improves
DOGE/RTO disruption; backlog falls to 765,669 (May 2026)
Filing cohort analysis — what happened to apps filed in a given year?Live from API
Enter a year and click Analyze to see the fate of all applications filed that year.