In the end of 80-ties in the Soviet Institute for Patent Information there were conducted works on
comparative analysis of Soviet and American science potential based on patent information.
It was shown that in many areas the number of patent documents granted to Soviet inventors
exceeded that of the USA. It is even more significant if we take into account that in the
USA about fifty percent of the total number of patents issued annually by the PTO were owned
by foreign inventors, whereas in the USSR foreign applicants accounted for only about 7 percent.
The most significant superiority of the USSR in the number of patent documents was found to be in the following areas:
TECHNICAL AREA Number of Patents in 1976-1986
USA USSR
MINING INDUSTRY 24487 53357
METALLURGY 15001 30069
HEAT TECHNOLOGY 25745 26986
METAL PROCESSING 33775 71823
CONSTRUCTION 24699 31257
AGRICULTURE 22284 31601
MEASUREMENT AND MANAGEMENT 82346 120114
In addition there were outlined the areas in which the patent activity of USSR was at
least not much lower than that of the USA, namely:
TECHNICAL AREA Number of Patents in 1976-1986
USA USSR
DETAILS OF MACHINES AND DRIVES: 54582 40718
TRANSPORT 25549 20431
COOKING 12846 11311
Source: Tendencii rasvitia krupnykh napravleniy nauchno-tekhnicheskogo progressa
v promyshlenno razvitykh stranakh. (Technichal trends in industrially developed countries)
Moscow. VNIIPI, 1989.
These data could be interpreted as clear indication of quite substantial development of the corresponding areas in our country.
So, when one is doing a prior art search it is worth the effort to look through the Russian sources.
Should you choose to do it, please send us a message.
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