U.S. Patent System Stacked Against American Entrepreneurs, New Index Finds

New Patent Friction Index uncovers immense risk to the future of U.S. entrepreneurship and innovation leadership as patent process lags Europe, China, Japan and South Korea globally, with independent inventors receiving only 8.2% of domestic grants in the latest comparable data, down from 22.3% in 1980

NEW YORK, Aug. 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- America's patent system granted more than 300,000 patents in 2025. The 10 largest global corporate recipients collected 36,054 of them and 300 of the world’s largest companies accounted for almost half. In contrast, independent inventors and entrepreneurs in the USA combined - received 16,715, just over 5%, providing evidence that American innovation and competitiveness is increasingly being outsourced due to antiquated processes, systematic red tape, inefficiency and a system rigged against the entrepreneur and in favour of big business.

This comes as Labrynth, a global AI-services and regulatory intelligence platform behind the Red Tape Index, today launched the Patent Friction Index, a new benchmark Index measuring the speed and flow of patents in the U.S. and across the globe as AI technology unlocks a patent gold rush for innovators and entrepreneurs.

The inaugural Patent Friction Index finds that the U.S. scored 42.62 points below the median of Europe, China, Japan and South Korea under the Index’s methodology. Individuals received just 8.2% of U.S. patents granted to applicants in the latest comparable data with the bulk going to large conglomerates and corporations including Samsung Display Co., Ltd., QUALCOMM and Apple. The benchmark evaluates four measures of patent cost, speed and participation, including official patent fees, time to a final decision, participation by independent inventors and the share of patents granted to applicants from outside each office’s home territory.

"America has built its economic leadership on the ability of people with great ideas to turn those ideas into companies, products and industries," said Stuart Lacey, founder and CEO of Labrynth. "When protecting an invention takes 10 times longer and costs 10 times more than it should, the burden can fall especially hard on entrepreneurs and smaller businesses that have fewer resources to navigate the process."

Corporate Giants Dominate Patent Wins

Organizations have multiplied their patent grants 5.5 times over the past 50 years, while independent inventors' totals stayed flat. In 1976, organizations received four patents for every one granted to an individual inventor. By 2025, that ratio had widened to 18.5 to 1. In 2025 alone, the 10 largest corporate recipients of U.S. utility patents combined for 36,054 grants, more than double the 16,715 received by independent American inventors combined. The gap is starkest in artificial intelligence, where companies received 305 AI patents for every one granted to an independent inventor in 2025.

Independent Inventors Received 8.2% of U.S. Domestic Grants
Individuals received just 8.2% of U.S. patents granted to domestic applicants in the latest comparable data, which is from 2020. That compares with 19.8% in South Korea and 3.8% in China. Comparable independent inventor data was available for only three of the five patent offices, and the U.S. data series used for the measure was discontinued after 2020.

U.S. Patent Decisions Take Longer Than Global Peers
The U.S. had the longest average time to a final patent office decision among the five offices studied. U.S. patent decisions took an average of 29.5 months in 2024, compared with 12.9 months in Japan, 15.5 months in China, 23.1 months in South Korea and 24.9 months in Europe. Between 2021 and 2024, the U.S. added 8.3 months to its average wait time while Japan reduced its pendency by 2.4 months over the same period. Patent offices do not always measure processing time from the same starting point in the application process. As a result, the comparison should not be interpreted as measuring identical processing periods across all five offices.

U.S. Patent Fees Higher than Most Global Offices
Official U.S. patent office fees to obtain and maintain a representative patent through 120 months totaled $5,440 under the Index methodology. That compares with approximately $2,549 in Japan, $2,744 in South Korea, $3,102 in China and $14,319 in Europe. The comparison includes patent office fees only. It does not include attorney fees, translation costs or other professional expenses that can make up a significant portion of the total cost of obtaining and maintaining a patent. Current data shows the all-in cost of the patent process in the US averages between $35,000 and $75,000 by the time the USPTO gets to final review.

More Than Half of U.S. Patent Grants Go to Foreign Applicants
In 2024, 55.5% of U.S. patent grants went to applicants residing outside the United States. Europe reported a similar share of 55.67%, while the shares were 10.2% in China, 25.54% in South Korea and 26.72% in Japan.

“The goal is not to discourage international inventors from seeking U.S. patents,” Lacey said. “It is to give policymakers, businesses and inventors a clearer picture of how accessible the system is and where there may be opportunities to make it work better for the people who need it most.”

How the Patent Friction Index Works
The Patent Friction Index measures how the United States compares with the median of the five peer offices. A score of zero represents parity with the peer median. A negative score means the U.S. performs less favorably than the peer median under the Index methodology, while a positive score indicates stronger performance.

Each of the four measures is weighted to produce an overall score.

The Patent Friction Index is designed to provide a consistent benchmark for tracking changes in the U.S. patent system over time and identifying areas where greater speed, affordability and accessibility could support American innovation.

The methodology also identifies limitations in comparing patent systems across countries, including differences in how patent offices measure processing time and variations in the availability and timing of published data.

For more information and the full methodology, visit https://redtapeindex.com/indices/patents.

About Labrynth
Labrynth is a global AI-services and regulatory intelligence platform that builds compliance engines for governments and businesses navigating complex, multiagency regulatory environments. The platform accelerates approvals, reduces compliance risk, and unlocks faster growth by turning regulatory bottlenecks into operational advantages.

Labrynth is currently deployed across state and local government, construction, energy infrastructure, supply chain, disability and care, and payroll assurance sectors, with active engagements across four continents.

The Red Tape Index, published by Labrynth, serves as a source of record for regulatory performance and infrastructure-readiness data across U.S. jurisdictions.

Spun out of Invisible Technologies, Labrynth was founded and is led by serial entrepreneur Stuart Lacey, who brings more than 20 years of experience bridging public- and private-sector innovation globally. Learn more at labrynth.ai.

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