Global: number of Apple patent filings by legal status 1999-2019

In 2018, Apple filed in total 1,310 patent families. The largest number of patents was filed in 2012 with a total of 1,892 filings. The number of filings in 2018 was the lowest number of patent families filed since 2012. The timeline is based on data provided by PatentSight.
Founded in 1976, Apple is an American multinational corporation that specializes in computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers and online services.

Number of Apple patent families* worldwide by filing year from 1999 to 2019, by legal status

Filing Year	In force**	Pending	Inactive
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Release date

September 2020

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

September 10, 2020

Supplementary notes

* A patent family is defined as a group of patent documents all of which have the same set of priorities. I.e., it is a group of patent documents that protect the same invention across authorities.

** The 'In force' category covers patent families that have been granted and are active.

*** As it usually takes 18 months after first filing for a patent to get published, the data for the year 2019 is subject to change.

The owner of a patent includes all patents owned by a company and its subsidiaries (by at least 50%) based on comprehensive research on corporate structures, M&A, Spin-offs, company names changes, patent transactions. PatentSight also tracks former names of companies and subsidiaries, ongoing mergers and acquisitions, acquisitions of the past, reassignments, companies that have the same applicant, and transliterations by patent offices.

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