US utility patents grantedNew LEGO sets released worldwide
Worldwide LEGO sets released per year and US utility patents granted, on the same upward path for two decades. Two industries built on adding small new things to a bigger catalogue of small new things. Both keep producing.
New LEGO sets released worldwide grew from a few hundred per year in 2002 to over 800 by 2022 as the company expanded into adult-collector themes (Star Wars, Architecture, Icons), Friends and Disney lines, and licensed franchise expansions. US utility patents grew from about 165,000 in 2002 to over 350,000 by 2022 as software, biotech, and Chinese-applicant filings expanded the corpus. Two completely unrelated growth stories sharing a window because the same 21 years rewarded both a toy company's franchise expansion and a global innovation system's accumulation. Different bricks.
Two systems kept publishing. The catalogue and the patent office, both on schedule.
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