The Valley; Region Sustains Robust Patent Production
The economic slump has yet to damp innovation in Silicon Valley, at least not by one widely followed measure: patent production.</br></br>Silicon Valley denizens received 13,231, or 7.9%, of the total 167,350 "utility" patents granted in the U.S. in 2009, according to IFI Patent Intelligence, a unit of Wolters Kluwer Health that analyzes patent data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. That is on par with Silicon Valley's share of patents nationwide in 2008 and 2007, according to IFI.</br></br>Utility patents are typically granted to those who invent or discover a new and useful process or machine.</br></br>Darlene Slaughter, IFI's general manager, said Silicon Valley's patent production was especially strong compared with other areas of the country, outstripping New York, for instance, which drew 5.3% of total utility patents in 2009. Texas generated 3.5% of such patents last year, and Massachusetts produced 2%.</br></br>The 2009 numbers could come as a relief to Silicon Valley executives and investors, who recall how the recession of the early 2000s crimped research and development.