Big Tech files numerous small patents and is the reason for backlog at USPTO

[Nat Watkins, 3-15-22, Designer Researcher at Nava / advocate for transparency for consumers / patent holder / AI enthusiast, Wired, “Inside Big Tech’s Race to Patent Everything,” , accessed: 07-08-24, ES]

Around the same time, tech giants became increasingly interested in patents. As Steve Jobs reportedly said at the invention of the first iPhone, “we’re going to patent it all.” And patent it all Apple did—right down to the slide-to-unlock feature and beveled edges. In 2011, Google’s top lawyer, David Drummond, claimed that the average smartphone might be protected by up to 250,000 patent claims. Today, no one seems able to get an accurate count, but last month’s sale of all “legacy patents” from Blackberry’s terminated smartphone business fetched $600 million. Perhaps this explains why the patent office has been swamped by a two- to three- year backlog of applications since 2012. Carbon footprint tracker was published 18 months after we applied, as most patent applications are, but it could be years before I know whether I’ve been formally granted a patent. The USPTO receives about 650,000 patent applications annually and issues grants to about 350,000, according to recent numbers, so my odds are only a little better than half.