The Top 25 Emerging Patent Firms

Inspired by our recent ranking of the top growing patent firms, we set out to find the top 25 emerging patent firms of the last decade. 

We recently named the Top 25 Growing Firms, highlighting medium-large firms with the most growth from 2009 to 2018. Of course, many of today’s most successful firms wouldn’t have even qualified for that list since they weren’t as prolific in 2009 or perhaps didn’t even exist yet.

This led us to look for the top 25 emerging patent firms. Using the same data, we identified the firms that were considered medium-large in 2018 (filing more than 250 apps per year), but weren’t considered so in 2009. We then ranked the top 25 based on growth in applications from 2009 to 2018. Note that as with our previous report, we limited this analysis to utility and plant applications, excluding design patents, reissues, re-examinations, and provisional applications.

Here, you see our Top 25 Emerging Patent Firms. All 25 of these firms showed impressive growth in the last decade, growing their filings more than 500% from 2009 to 2018. The firms are listed in the key in order of percent growth from 2009 to 2018. Roll over a firm name to explore its growth trajectory.

It’s important to keep in mind that many of these firms were formed out of major splits, mergers, and acquisitions during this time, which can help expand a book of business (seemingly) overnight.

For example, you’re probably aware that Xensus was not formed until 2018, yet they appear here at the top of our rankings. How is that possible? For this analysis, we give application credit to the firm that the application is either currently with or the firm the application was assigned to at the time of disposition. So, an application that was filed by an attorney at Oblon in 2014, but then transferred to Xensus in 2018, and allowed in 2019, would be counted here for Xensus with a 2014 filing date. Since we are evaluating firm growth, focusing on firm at disposition allows us to credit firms with not only new filings but also credit those who were able to win over clients with pending patent applications. 

Another hard-to-miss firm on this list is the largest firm, Studebaker Brackett. While all the other firms on this list are filing less than 1,000 applications each year, Studebaker Brackett has emerged as one of the Top 200 largest filers at the USPTO.

While more work doesn't always mean better work, it’s worth noting that our emerging firms bested the USPTO average for allowance rate and time to disposition. According to data as of this publishing, these 25 firms have an average allowance rate of 84% and time to disposition of 25.6 months. The USPTO average allowance rate is 75% and average time to disposition is 27.1 months. In addition, 5 of these firms were recognized in our 2019 Top Patent Firms by Tech Center rankings.

These emerging firms prove that a lot can change over ten years, and has us wondering – what impact will 2020’s economic crisis have on these firms and the industry at-large? Only time (and data) will tell. We’re already analyzing preliminary data on this year and are eager to report our findings. Make sure you sign up for our newsletter to get the latest updates.

Juristat helps IP firms and in-house counsel analyze past performance and identify new opportunities. We’d be happy to help your organization identify areas of growth as we head into 2021. Schedule a meeting with us.