In September 2024, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Sunwater Institute published a study examining patent quality in the United States. The report found that the overall quality of patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is high and compares favorably to the quality of patents issued by other major patent offices worldwide. It also found that the USPTO rejects valid patents at a significantly higher rate than it grants invalid ones.
C4IP commends the Sunwater Institute for its thorough research and hopes that the key findings of the report, explained below, will shape a new era of honest and informed policy discussion.