U.S. innovation victim of recession?

An interesting and pessimistic article from CNNMoney.com (link). The article points out some scary facts:

• The number of patent filings in the United States fell 2.3% in 2009 to 485,500 from 496,886.
• U.S. patents issued to foreign applicants jumped 6.3%.
• Patent filings (from US applicants) were down 25%.

It is interesting to note that PCT filings have never decreased since the creation of the PCT Treaty.