Where does 3M Innovative Properties Company rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), 3M Innovative Properties Company ranks #60 of 49,997 assignees by granted-patent volume, the same sort as the companies listing and top-holders ranking. See /methodology/#corpus-placement.

How many patents does 3M Innovative Properties Company hold?

3M Innovative Properties Company holds 5,993 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 360 technology areas.

What is 3M Innovative Properties Company's Innovation Score?

3M Innovative Properties Company has an Innovation Score of 68.3 out of 100 (top 1% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does 3M Innovative Properties Company focus on?

3M Innovative Properties Company's top technology area is G02B (Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus) with 991 patents. Grants appear in 360 CPC subclasses total.

Is 3M Innovative Properties Company's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

3M Innovative Properties Company's recent grant velocity is -22% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). Grant activity has slowed relative to earlier years.

What does claim depth mean for 3M Innovative Properties Company's patents?

3M Innovative Properties Company's patents average 14.3 claims each. This is an aggregate descriptive count from the grant record; it does not establish claim scope, legal strength, enforceability, or design-around risk.

How is the 3M Innovative Properties Company patent data sourced?

All patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office covering US granted utility patents from 2015 to 2025.

USPTO 2015–2025 USPTO PatentsView US Corporation

3M Innovative Properties Company

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 5,993 granted patents across 360 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2015–2025. Grant-trend analysis is cross-referenced to USPTO Patent Public Search; it does not measure application filings, current R&D, or legal strength. Primary class: G02B (Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, 3M ranks #60 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 5,993 patents across 360 technology areas.

#60
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 1%
by Innovation Score (68.3/100): 14.3
avg claims per patent: -22%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R60 · US Corporation #60 · 5,993 grants

GRANTS-LARGE · TOP-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-BROAD · INNOV-STRONG · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-DOWN · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-LARGE 6.0K grants
TOP-DECILE #60/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Capital ONE Services
CPC-BROAD G02B · 360 areas
INNOV-STRONG 68.3/100
CLAIMS-RICH 14.3 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DOWN -22% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Capital ONE Services, LLC (±3 grants)

Instrument codes from this assignee’s USPTO PatentsView grant sheet: volume band, corpus rank, photo-finish peer, lead CPC, Innovation Score, claim depth, assignee type, velocity, and book completeness. Not a USPTO rating of patent strength.

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
KPN Innovations · near

68
3M Innovative… · this assignee

68
Beijing Institute… · near

68
Snowflake · near

68
Subaru · near

68
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows 3M's Innovation Score is 68.3/100 (top 1% of the PatentsView-derived corpus). The chart places that score against the nearest Innovation Score peers plus corpus poles, not a reprint of the volume ranking.

How 3M's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, 3M Innovative Properties Company received 2,495 grants versus 3,197 in 2015–2019 (-22% equal-window velocity, below median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2019 at 675 grants and bottomed in 2023 at 396. Lead class G02B accounts for 16.5% of the portfolio across 360 subclasses. Volume neighbours: LG Chem, Ltd. (#56) and SAP SE (#64).

3M's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, 3M Innovative Properties Company moved from 1,870 to 1,300 grants (0.69x the prior three-year total, a multiple, not a CAGR). Among 3,296 tracked assignees with ≥100 grants and ≥20 prior-period grants, that multiple ranks #2,168. See the growth leaderboard.

LG Chem

6,727
Covidien

6,485
The Regents of th…

6,428
Saudi Arabian OIL

6,393
3M Innovative Pro… ◀

5,993
Capital ONE Servi…

5,990
Infineon

5,936
Hitachi

5,890
SAP SE

5,717

What this shows 3M holds 5,993 patents at rank #60, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near 3M

By rank, the assignees closest to #60 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in G02B (Optical Elements)

Other assignees with the most granted patents in 3M's primary technology class.

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for 3M, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above).

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (68 here).

Snowflake Inc. 68 Beijing Institute of Technology 68 Subaru Corporation 68 KPN Innovations LLC 68

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (14.3 here).

NxStage Medical, Inc. 14.3 avg Silk Road Medical, Inc. 14.3 avg Rohinni, Inc. 14.3 avg Plansee SE 14.3 avg

3M's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

Composite of portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth (0–100)

68 Top 1% higher than 99% of 49,997 US assignees

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US assignees. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source USPTO PatentsView, PlainPatent Innovation Score · 2015–2025

USPTO utility patent grants by year · 2015–2025

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2015–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

3M Innovative Properties Company patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	561	9.4%
2016	631	10.5%
2017	673	11.2%
2018	657	11.0%
2019	675	11.3%
2020	669	11.2%
2021	526	8.8%
2022	470	7.8%
2023	396	6.6%
2024	434	7.2%
2025partial year	301	5.0%

Which technologies does 3M Innovative Properties Company patent most?

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 991

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 720

B32B - Layered Products, i.e. Products Built-up OF Strata OF Flat OR Non-flat, e.g. Cellular OR Honeycomb, Form 647

C09J - ADHESIVES; Non-mechanical Aspects OF Adhesive Processes IN GENERAL; Adhesive Processes NOT Provided FOR ELSEWHERE; USE OF Materials AS Adhesives 610

C08K - Use of inorganic or non-macromolecular organic substances as compounding ingredients 485

C08L - Compositions OF Macromolecular Compounds 475

C08F - Macromolecular Compounds Obtained BY Reactions Only Involving Carbon-to-carbon Unsaturated Bonds 438

C09D - Coating Compositions, e.g. Paints, Varnishes OR LACQUERS; Filling PASTES; Chemical Paint OR INK REMOVERS; INKS; Correcting FLUIDS; WOODSTAINS; Pastes OR Solids FOR Colouring OR PRINTING; USE OF Materials Therefor 415

B29C - Shaping OR Joining OF PLASTICS; Shaping OF Material IN A Plastic State, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; After-treatment OF THE Shaped Products, e.g. Repairing 379

C08G - Macromolecular Compounds Obtained Otherwise Than BY Reactions Only Involving Unsaturated Carbon-to-carbon Bonds 366

C08J - WORKING-UP; General Processes OF COMPOUNDING; After-treatment NOT Covered BY Subclasses C08b, C08c, C08f, C08g or C08h 323

A61C - DENTISTRY; Apparatus OR Methods FOR Oral OR Dental Hygiene 263

A61F - Filters Implantable Into Blood VESSELS; PROSTHESES; Devices Providing Patency TO, OR Preventing Collapsing OF, Tubular Structures OF THE Body, e.g. STENTS; Orthopaedic, Nursing OR Contraceptive DEVICES; FOMENTATION; Treatment OR Protection OF Eyes OR EARS; Bandages, Dressings OR Absorbent PADS; Firs 261

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 250

B01D - Separation 241

Top 15 of 360 technology areas

Where it ranks

Overall rank by patents

#60

of 49,997 tracked assignees

Innovation Score

68.3 out of 100

View all rankings →

Data Source

USPTO PatentsView, US granted patents 2015–2025

How is Innovation Score calculated?

What to do with this data

3M Innovative Properties Company's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

3M Innovative Properties Company's lead technology class is G02B (Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus), 16.5% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore G02B
Ranked #60 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare 3M Innovative Properties Company against LG Chem, Ltd., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 68.3/100 blends volume, velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth. How it's calculated

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through May 2026; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent

Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the USPTO PatentsView database. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sources used on this page

USPTO PatentsView - the disambiguated bulk patent-grant, assignee, and CPC data this page's figures are derived from. patentsview.org
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) - the joint USPTO/EPO classification scheme used to group patents by technology area. cooperativepatentclassification.org
USPTO Patent Public Search - the official interface to verify the status of any individual patent. ppubs.uspto.gov

Compiled by PlainPatent, US Patent Intelligence Editorial Process · May 15, 2026

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 2026.