2006 was a banner year for intellectual property, according to a press release issued by the the US Patent and Trademark Office.  440,000 patent applications were received, and 332,000 applications were examined by the Office.  The allowance rate (the ratio of patents granted to applications) was 54%, the lowest on record.
The PTO processed 378,111 trademark [...]

RealtyTracTM, a leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, released their data from 2006 last week. According to this article filed with PR Newswire, Detroit leads the nation in per-capita foreclosures by city:
With an average of more than 10,000 foreclosure filings in each quarter, Detroit documented the highest annual foreclosure rate among the nation’s [...]