[btrettel]

I don't agree. I think most people would think that "patents" implies that a patent office has granted a patent.

For what it's worth, confusing patents and patent applications is a pet peeve of mine as a former patent examiner. I've seen people criticize the USPTO for apparently granting a patent on some nonsense, but when I look at it, the USPTO rejected the application. The problem is that people can't tell the difference between a patent application and patent. I saw an opportunity to clarify this issue and I took it.

[gnirre]

” The headline is inaccurate. As far as I can tell, no patents have been granted yet”

Thats not how you need to interpret ”patents” grammatically. You could read that as ”is in the process of patenting”

Is there a good verb for ”files patent applications for”?

You want to consider readability of the headline.