States; and the resulting U.S. balance. These 10 

 countries were responsible for nearly 70 percent 

 of all foreign patent transactions with the United 

 States during 1966-73. (Data are not available 

 for Italy, and are not reliable for France for use in 

 this report). 



The "patent balance" of the United States fell 

 by about 30 percent between 1966 and 1973, as 

 shown in figure 1-10. The decline was due both 

 to an increasing number of U.S. patents awarded 

 to foreign countries and a decline (in 1973) in the 

 number of foreign patents awarded to U.S. 

 citizens. Overall, foreign patenting increased in 

 the United States during the period by over 65 

 percent, and by 1973 represented more than 30 

 percent of all U.S. patents granted. This suggests 

 that the number of patentable ideas of inter- 

 national merit has been growing at a greater rate 

 in other countries than in the United States. 



The United States has a favorable but 

 declining patent balance with each country 

 except West Germany and the U.S.S.R.^" (figure 

 1-11). The favorable balance with Japan has 

 declined steadily since 1968, as its patenting of 

 inventions in the United States increased some 

 threefold. The U.S. balance with Canada dropped 

 sharply after 1972 as a result of a 30 percent 

 reduction in the number of patents granted by 

 Canada to U.S. inventors. 



Foreign origin patents by product area. The 



rapid growth of foreign patenting in the United 

 States has occurred in a broad spectrum of 

 product areas and technologies. The number of 

 such foreign patents granted in these areas can 

 be used to identify the products and technologies 

 in which the foreign impact is greatest. 



For this purpose, all U.S. patents granted 

 during 1963-73 were assigned to 15 major 

 product areas according to the probable areas of 

 application of the invention.-** The percentage of 

 foreign origin patents within each of these areas 

 in 1973 is presented in the table below. 



In 1963, the proportion of foreign origin 

 patents in 12 of the 15 areas was less than 20 

 percent; only one area — petroleum refining and 

 extraction — had less than 20 percent foreign 

 patents in 1973. 



In studies of more specific fields and 

 technologies, the U.S. Patent Office has iden- 

 tified a number of areas in which the foreign 

 share of U.S. patents is particularly high and 

 increasing rapidly.-" Listed below are some of 

 these areas and the corresponding foreign share 

 of patents during 1972: 



Areas 



Piezoelectric compositions 



Magnetic field responsive resistors 



Automatic transmissions 



Superconductors 



Vinyl halide polymers 



Ground effect machines 



Semiconductor internal structures 

 Magnetic sound recording and 



reproducing structures 



Magneto-hydrodynamic generators 

 Ignition timing controls 



Percent of 



U.S. patents 



to foreign 



countries 



78 

 72 

 69 

 60 

 56 

 54 

 52 



52 

 49 

 49 



Japan, West Germany, and the United 

 Kingdom received the greatest proportion of 

 foreign patents awarded by the United States in 

 these areas. 



Percent of total U.S. patents granted to foreign countries 

 by major product area, 1973 



Product area 



Percent 



Product area 



Percent 



Product area 



Percent 



Drugs and medicines . . 



Aircraft and parts 



Textile mill products . . . 

 Chemicals, except drugs 

 Primary metals 



44 Food and kindred products 

 39 Machinery, except 



37 electrical 



35 Electrical equipment, 

 34 except communications . 



Professional and 



scientific instruments . . . 



Communication equipment and 



electronic components . . 



33 



30 



29 



29 



28 



Motor vehicles and other 



transportation equipment.. 

 Rubber and miscellaneous 



plastics products 



Stone, clay and glass 



products 



Fabricated metal products . . . 

 Petroleum refining and 



extraction 



28 

 28 



27 

 25 



17 



2' The U.S.S.R. accounted for only one percent of all the 

 patent transactions considered. 



^» Indualon of thi Patent Output of U.S. Industry, Office of 

 Technology Assessment and Forecast, U.S. Patent Office, 

 1974 (A study commissioned specifically for this report). 



-" This information was taken from a series of reports of 

 the Office of Technology Assessment and Forecast, U.S. 

 Patent Office, April 1973-January 1975. 



17 



