Although December has just begun, the USPTO has already issued more patents in calendar year 2014 than in any other prior year.  I expect that the total will be around 304,000 utility patents issued this year. The number of grants has more than doubled since 2005.

Source: Patentlyo.com & USPTO.gov

We can expect some further increase in 2015 – especially if Congress grants PTO full spending authority over its collected fees.

[Note – blue bar in 2014 shows the expected number of grants in the remaining four weeks of FY2014.]

Read article HERE | USPTO Patent Grants by Dennis Crouch

See USPTO’s U.S. Patent Statistics Chart from 1963 to 2013.