Washington Post: Google has gotten more fast-track patents than any other company, by Catherine Ho
This article originally appeared in the Washington Post on October 26, 2014.
A government program that can expedite patents for businesses willing to pay an extra fee is benefiting the world’s largest technology companies, including Google, which has amassed far more expedited patents than any other company since the program began three years ago.
Google has obtained 875 fast-track patents, about 14 percent of the 6,187 expedited patents that have been issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since the program began in 2011, according to data provided by the agency.
The vast majority — more than 97 percent — of companies, universities, inventors and other parties that have obtained expedited patents have received 10 or fewer of them.
Google declined to comment on or confirm how much the company paid to pursue those patents. But under the program’s fee structure, it would cost a large company such as Google $3.5 million to obtain 875 expedited patents.