I have been monitoring employment data on patent attorneys and agents, for Patent Buddy, since 2007.  In 2007, an average of 168 new patent attorneys and agents appeared on the roster every month.  This compares to 92 for September 2011.

Despite the much lower number of new registrants, the percent of unaffiliated new registrants is much higher than it was in 2007:  41.6% in 2007 compared to 61% in September 2010.  In terms of actual numbers, 70 new registrants were unaffiliated per month in 2007 and 56 were unaffiliated in September, 2011.  However, the overall market was a lot more robust in 2007 than it is today.

Law firms are hiring fewer new registrants now than they did in 2007.  The percent of new registrants working for law firms in 2007 averaged 50% of the total.  This percentage decreased to 36.7% in September 2011.  The actual numbers show a worse job situation:  an average of 84 new registrants were employed each month by law firms in 2007 while only 34 new registrants were employed by law firms in September 2011.

Corporate hiring of new patent registrants was 6.8% of the total number of new registrants in 2007 and dropped to 2.3% in September, 2011.  This amounted to 11 new registrants working for corporations in 2007 and only 2 new registrants working for corporations in 2011.

The number of people passing the patent bar each month is continuing to drop and was 92 people for September.  Despite the lower number, over 60% of the new registrants were not affiliated with a law firm or corporation or other employer.  Corporations, which showed relatively strong employment numbers of new registrants in May and June, virtually stopped hiring in September.  We will have to wait a few months to determine whether this is a trend.

Date Total Unaff(%) Law F.(%) Corp(%) Tot(12)
3/31/2008 146 41.6 50 6.8 2424
4/30/2008/ 184 48 44.3 7.6 2202
12/1/2010 202 56.5 36.1 7.4 1755
3/31/2011 111 58.6 34.2 7.2 1332
4/30/2011 110 62.7 28.2 9.1 1320
5/31/2011 226 57.1 31.4 11.6 2712
6/30/2011 112 57.2 32.1 10.7 1344
7/31/2011 90 60 34.5 5.5 1080
8/31/2011 106 49 45.3 5.7 1272
9/30/2011 92 61 36.7 2.3 1104

Hiring remains relatively strong for new registrants with a software expertise but every other area is very, very weak.

Twenty of the 92 people passing the patent bar in September reside in California.  Twelve of these people were unaffiliated with an organization.  Three worked for corporations and three people worked for law firm.

Twelve of the 92 people passing the patent bar in September reside in Virginia.  Nine of these people work for law firms and three are unaffilieated.  None work for corporation.

A total of 147 people made moves in August.  This compares to 142 for July and 175 for June.  Of this total, 54 people 36.7% moved from one law firm to another law firm.  This compares to 40.3% for July and 37.7% for June.

A percentage of 8.2% moved from one corporation to another corporation in August.  This compares to 17% for July and 10.7% in June.

A percentage of 17.8% moved from a law firm to an unaffiliated status.  This compares to 14.2% in July and 18.8% in June.

A percentage of 6.8% moved from a corporation to an unaffiliated status.  This compares to 5.0% in July 8.7% in June and 8.2% in May.

A percentage of 15.6% moved from a law firm to a corporation in August.  This compares to 11.4% in July and 9.7% in June.

A percentage of 2.0% moved from a corporation to a law firm.  This compares to 5.0% in July and 4.0% in June.

The data below shows the percent of total unaffiliated over the time intervals described.  The data shows that the patent law profession has not recovered from the “recession” of 2008.  Outside of a few hotspots, such as Silicon Valley patent law in the United States is in a depression.

Oct. 2007 to March 2008:  12.0% unaffiliated

April-June 2008:                  16.5%

Sept.-Dec. 2010:                   25.9%

March 2011                            25.0%

April 2011                               16.6%

May 2011                               22.8%

June 2011                              27.4%

July 2011                              19.2%

August 2011                         24.6%

The August employment picture for newly registered US patent attorneys and agents is still pretty grim but is an improvement over July 2011.  A total of 106 people passed the patent bar.  This compares to 90 people for July and 112 people for June.

Of this total 52 people of 49.0% were unaffiliated with an organization.  This compares with 60.0% for July 57.2% for June and 57.1% for May.

A total of 48 people or 45.3% were affiliated with a law firm.  This compares with 44.5% for July.

A total of 6 people were affiliated with a corporation.  This was 5.7%.  The percentage affiliated with a corporation in July was 5.5%.  Corporations included Abbott,, Google SAP and Celtic Therapeutics.

Yesterday, the US Fed. Cir. issued a decision that has a significant impact on software patent claims. The court held that if a software method is not patentable in view of Bilski v. Kappos, 130 S.Ct. 3218 (2010), then Beauregard claim capturing the method is not patentable either.

I have checked the portfolios of Motorola, InterDigital, Nortel and Kodak for claims directed to “computer readable medium” and have the following results to report:

Portfolio No. of Patents/Apps with Beauregard Claims
Motorola 279
Nortel 584
Kodak 115
InterDigital 4

This data does not mean that all of these patents have invalid claims. However, the patents should be checked to identify the extent of the damage. If anyone in the group would like to have one or more lists of patents/apps, let me know. I will send to you by e-mail.

The most surprising results are the large number of Beauregard claims in the Kodak portfolio. These are the image capture claims, regarded as the patents in that portfolio that have value.

The big tech news today is the purchase of MMI for $12.5B. I have taken a look at the US patents and pending patent US applications of MMI in the International Patent Classification G06F which is directed to Internet related telecom such as data and internet applications, including SW tools and OS; encrypting and security; and user authentication and access control, including SIM. The Motorola patents in this tech classification are owned by one of the following entities:

Company No. US Patents and Pub. Applications
Motorola Mobility 915
Motorola Solutions 261
Motorola Inc. 651
CitiBank/Freescale 705
Citibank 6
Freescale 10
Apple 2
In general, MMI and Motorola Solutions own the newer patents and pending applications, while the older patents are encumbered with a CitiBank lien.

The Citibank and CitiBank/Freescale patents and pending applications are collateral that Motorola pledged to CitiBank. If the liens have been discharged this status has not been reported to the assignment database.

Earlier this year, Apple procured over 200 patents and pending patent application that had been owned by Freescale Semiconductor, a division of Motorola. These patents are directed to hardware for computers and wireless devices. The nature of the “ownership” terms is not clear because a lot of patents and pending applcations that were part of the deal still are listed as having a lien against them.

A list of the patents and pending applications purchased by Apple can be found on the Patently O blog at http://www. patentlyo.com/patent/2011/05/apple-buys-patents-from-freescale.html.

The chronology of these various patent portfolios carved out of Motorola suggests that Apple can make some mischief for Google, yet again for three reasons. 1- The Apple (formerly Freescale) patents have earlier priority dates than the MMI patents; 2-Both portfolios are in the same tech space; and 3-Apple has an ability to draft claims on Google MMI technology with the pending Freescale patent applications it has purchased.

A few of the Freescale patents purchased by Apple that could be problematic for Google include these:

5128632 which is directed to an adaptive lock time controller for a phase locked loop;

5175729 which is directed to a transciever for use in a time division multiplex communication system;

5430416, which is directed to a transmitter for transmitting signals;

5493700, which is directed to an automatic frequency controlling device;

5701600, which is directed to a method of calibrating a radio receiver which has a desired IF center frequency;

5737327, which is a method of demodulating a spread spectrum communication signal;  and

5748042, which is an amplifier circuit.

One reason why Google purchased Motorola Mobility was to provide it with ammunition in its patent wars with Apple and Microsoft.  There are certainly patents in the MMI portfolio that will useful to achieve this result.  In a future posting I will provide information about some of those patents.

Month New Patent Attorney c/Jobs Laterals Leaving Jobs Net Number
March +46 -46 0
April +41 -24 +17
May +97 -36 +61
June +43 -48 -5
July +36 -27 +9

By these numbers, there has been an addition of +82 patent attorneys/agents into law firm and corporate jobs over the interval March 2011-July 2011.

A total of 142 patent attorneys and agents reported moves to the USPTO in the month of July.This is a decrease from the 175 moving in June. 40.3% of this number moved from one law firm to another. This compares to a June percentage of 37.7%. 17% moved from one corporation to another corporation, which compares to 10.7% for June.

14.2% moved from a law firm to an unaffiliated status in July, which compares to 18.8% in June. These numbers are better than the unemployment rate reported generally.  5.0% of patent attorneys and agents moving, moved from a corporation to an unaffiliated status, which compares to 8.7% in June and 8.2% in May.

11.4% moved from law firms to corporations, which compares to 9.7% in June. 5.0% moved from corporations to law firms, which compares to 4.0% in June.

When the percent of patent attorneys and agents moving from a law firm to an unaffiliated status is added to the percent of patent attorneys and agents moving from a corporation to an unaffiliated status, the following results are obtained:

October 2007-March-2008: 12.0% total moving to an unaffiliated status

April-June 2008: 16.5%

Sept.-Dec. 2010: 25.9%

March 2011 25.0%

April 2011 16.6%

May 2011 22.8%

June 27.4%

July 19.2%

The employment climate for new patent bar registrants showed some deterioration compared to May and June. In July, 90 people passed the Patent Bar. This compares to 112 in June.

The percent of unaffiliated patent attorneys and agents in July was 60% of the total. This compares to 57.2% in June and 57.1% in May. Most of the affiliation was with small prep/pros shops.

The percent affiliated with companies was 5.5%, which is more in line with historical trends. The May and June numbers were in the range of 10%.

One month does not indicate a trend. If the new registrant number is a lagging indicator, it is likely to show further weakness in August.