Women of colour, particularly black and Hispanic women, are less likely to be granted patent rights than white women and men, even as they are leading in the growth of new female-owned businesses over the last two decades, according to a new study. 

“The data show that people of color are particularly unlikely to hold intellectual property,” the Institute of Women’s Policy Research, a Washington think tank, said in a report released on Tuesday. Overall, less than 19% of patents issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office had a female inventor listed, according to the most recent data, compiled in 2015.