Women Represent 13% of US Patent Owners After 30 Years of Growth

Women inventors made up 13% of US patent holders by 2019 as the number of counties with women patentees jumped by nearly a third over three decades, according to a new US Patent and Trademark Office report.

An additional 411 counties had women patent holders between 1990 and 2019, a 32% increase, the report issued Wednesday said.

The analysis aims to answer some questions necessary for the formulation of policy to expand women’s participation in patenting—one of several areas the PTO has said it would examine in its efforts to increase diversity in intellectual property.

Growth has varied widely ...