U.S. Utility Patent Trends · First Five Months of 2026
As part of the value we continuously strive to provide to the community of creators, inventors, startups, and innovation teams in Spain and the United States, we have undertaken a utility patent trends study to provide a real-time snapshot of the markets where Let’s Prototype operates.
Although this research on utility patent trends in the United States serves as a strategic compass for our business team, we decided to share it publicly with our community.
In the final section of this post, you will find an explanatory note outlining the methodology we followed in our analysis.
Overview of the Utility Patent Sample Analyzed
It is important to note that this provides a snapshot of only a small sample of the data currently being analyzed. Specifically, 2,635 utility patents out of the more than 11,000 patents included in our ongoing study.
Inventors in the United States rarely patent alone. The average number of inventors per utility patent in our analyzed sample is 1.88.
Although the data shows that fewer than 1% of the patents processed are international PCT applications, this figure should not be interpreted as representative, since the analysis is focused primarily on datasets covering utility patents in the United States.
In the United States, inventing in pairs is much more common than inventing alone or in larger teams.
In our sample, 42.2% of U.S. utility patents are filed by two inventors, making two-inventor teams the most common configuration among the patents analyzed.
Solo inventors are also very common, with 36.3% of the utility patents in our sample attributed to a single inventor.
Utility patents with more than two inventors are much less common in the United States. Only 20% of the utility patents in our analyzed sample have three inventors, and as the number of inventors increases, the percentage progressively approaches zero.
The Nationalities Filing the Most Utility Patents in the United States
The United States is, and has historically been, one of the world’s most attractive markets for commercializing hardware products. Its strong legal framework and mature investment ecosystem, particularly in innovation and intellectual property, make it an almost essential hub for patent filing.
As we saw in our analysis of utility patents from 2026, more than 16% of U.S. utility patents in our sample are owned by inventors or companies from other countries.
Inventors and companies from China are the undisputed leaders within that 16% when it comes to products protected by U.S. utility patents.
Although the top three consists of inventors from China, inventors from South Korea, and Canada, the volume of Chinese inventions patented in the United States clearly stands out compared with the other countries.
Which U.S. States Have the Most Active Inventors?
California, Florida, and Texas make up the top three U.S. states with the highest number of registered utility patents.
This is not particularly surprising.
California, Florida, and Texas are among the most populous states in the country. They are also major destinations for immigrants, including highly skilled professionals, attracting significant numbers of engineers and scientists who come to the United States through immigration pathways specifically designed for qualified talent.
While Texas is home to one of the leading industrial ecosystems in the U.S. economy, California and Florida stand out for policies that support the development of venture capital investment and broader ecosystems designed to foster innovation development.
Most Patented Technology Trends in the United States
According to the sample analyzed, the development of products incorporating artificial intelligence models in general, and products using machine learning models in particular, represents the most frequently patented product category in the United States through utility patents.
Electronic products and semiconductor technologies are undoubtedly a major source of research, transformation, and new inventions, placing them as the second most common category of utility patents.
Innovation and the development of new multifunctional vehicles, drones, autonomous systems, and complementary vehicle devices rank as the third-largest category in the sample of utility patent filings.
Sensors, wearables, and other IoT devices rank as the fourth category of inventions protected by utility patents. This is undoubtedly one of the most active areas of innovation, encompassing sports wearables, healthcare wearables, safety wearables, and other rapidly growing subcategories.
Methodology Used for the Utility Patent Analysis
To ensure full transparency regarding the methodology behind the analysis and the conclusions presented above, we have outlined the key criteria and sources used:
ADS Update
- We identified an initial sample of 11,500 patents whose identification and ownership records were issued or updated during the first five months of the year.
- From the overall sample, data from 2,635 utility patent cases has been standardized.
- The extracted data was standardized to analyze the key trends and support the conclusions presented in this post.
Next Steps in Our Research on U.S. Utility Patents and Key Trends
Our Next Objectives Are:
- Gradually update, through this official Let’s Prototype platform, the key findings and trends we identify as we continue analyzing the remaining patent sample.
- Create a ranking of patent attorneys based on their frequency or volume of filings with the USPTO, specifically within the utility patent category. This will allow inventors, startups, and innovation departments to identify the most active utility patent attorneys in each state.
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