Where does Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. ranks #8,346 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 Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. hold?

Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. holds 38 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2024, spanning 15 technology areas.

What is Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd.'s Innovation Score?

Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. has an Innovation Score of 61.4 out of 100 (top 3% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

Is Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd.'s recent grant velocity is -77% 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 Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd.'s patents?

Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd.'s patents average 25.2 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 Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. 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 Foreign Corporation

Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd.

Q: What technology areas does Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. focus on?

Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd.'s top technology area is G03F (Photomechanical Production OF Textured OR Patterned Surfaces, e.g. FOR Printing, FOR Processing OF Semiconductor DEVICES; Materials THEREFOR; Originals THEREFOR; Apparatus Specially Adapted THEREFOR;) with 32 patents, ranking #62 of 595 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 15 CPC subclasses total.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 38 granted patents across 15 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2015–2024. 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: G03F (Photomechanical Production OF Textured OR Patterned Surfaces, e.g. FOR Printing, FOR Processing OF Semiconductor DEVICES; Materials THEREFOR; Originals THEREFOR; Apparatus Specially Adapted THEREFOR;).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Carl ranks #8,346 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 38 patents across 15 technology areas.

#8,346
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 3%
by Innovation Score (61.4/100): 25.2
avg claims per patent: -77%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R8346 · Foreign Corporation #8,346 · 38 grants

GRANTS-SMALL · UPPER-Q · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-STRONG · CLAIMS-DENSE · TYPE-FRNCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-SMALL 38 grants
UPPER-Q #8,346/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Caliper Life Sciences
CPC-FOCUS G03F · 15 areas
INNOV-STRONG 61.4/100
CLAIMS-DENSE 25.2 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-DROP -77% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. (±0 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.

How Carl’s 61.4 Innovation Score adds up

The same four weighted components behind every Innovation Score on PlainPatent: portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth.

Volume 12.7 pts (21%) Velocity 20.0 pts (33%) Breadth 13.7 pts (22%) Claim depth 15.0 pts (24%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Evoqua Water · near

61
Carl Zeiss SMS · this assignee

61
Epistar · near

61
SAF-Holland · near

61
Zhejiang Sanhua… · near

61
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Carl's Innovation Score is 61.4/100 (top 3% 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.

Does more volume mean deeper claims for Carl?

Each dot is one of Carl’s 8 nearest volume peers (same corpus rank neighbourhood as the chart above), placed by total granted patents (horizontal) against average claims per patent (vertical). Carl’s own 25.2 claims/patent is ABOVE the 16.0 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

Carl vs its 8 nearest volume peers: granted patents vs average claims per patent. Source: USPTO PatentsView.

Where Carl's grants concentrate

Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. is a focused PatentsView assignee: 15 CPC subclasses with 84.2% of grants classified under G03F (Photomechanical Production OF Textured OR Patterned Surfaces, e.g. FOR Printing, FOR Processing OF Semiconductor DEVICES; Materials THEREFOR; Originals THEREFOR; Apparatus Specially Adapted THEREFOR;). Peak complete grant year is 2015 (12 grants) versus a trough of 1 in 2019. By volume, Carl sits between Cloudminds (SHENZHEN) Robotics Systems Co., Ltd. and Clarios Germany GmbH & Co. KG.

Carl's three-year grant acceleration

Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. shows 6 grants in 2022–2024 against only 2 in 2019–2021. That prior window is too thin for a growth multiple (rename and spin-out assignees look artificially high when the baseline is near zero), so PlainPatent withholds a ranked acceleration claim here.

Cloudminds (Shenz…

38
Cyclingdeal USA

38
Caliper Life Scie…

38
Cardinalcommerce

38
Caterpillar Energ…

38
Caterpillar Motor…

38
Champion Link Int…

38
Clarios Germany &…

38
Carl Zeiss SMS ◀

38

What this shows Carl holds 38 patents at rank #8,351, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Carl

By rank, the assignees closest to #8,351 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in G03F (Photomechanical Production OF Textured OR Patterned Surfaces)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Carl, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In G03F (Photomechanical Production OF Textured OR Patterned Surfaces), Carl ranks #62 of 595 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (61 here).

Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls Co., Ltd 61 SAF-Holland, Inc. 61 Epistar Corporation 61 Evoqua Water Technologies LLC 61

Carl's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

61 Top 3% higher than 97% 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 · 2015–2024

Grants by year

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

View data table

Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	12	31.6%
2016	10	26.3%
2017	5	13.2%
2018	3	7.9%
2019	1	2.6%
2020	1	2.6%
2022	4	10.5%
2023	1	2.6%
2024	1	2.6%

Which technologies does Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. patent most?

G03F - Photomechanical Production OF Textured OR Patterned Surfaces, e.g. FOR Printing, FOR Processing OF Semiconductor DEVICES; Materials THEREFOR; Originals THEREFOR; Apparatus Specially Adapted THEREFOR; 32

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 8

G01N - Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties 6

B82Y - Specific Uses OR Applications OF NANOSTRUCTURES; Measurement OR Analysis OF NANOSTRUCTURES; Manufacture OR Treatment OF Nanostructures 5

G01B - Measuring Length, Thickness OR Similar Linear DIMENSIONS; Measuring ANGLES; Measuring AREAS; Measuring Irregularities OF Surfaces OR Contours 5

H01L - Semiconductor Devices NOT Covered BY Class H10 3

G01M - Testing Static OR Dynamic Balance OF Machines OR STRUCTURES; Testing OF Structures OR Apparatus, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 2

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 2

C03C - Chemical Composition OF Glasses, Glazes OR Vitreous ENAMELS; Surface Treatment OF GLASS; Surface Treatment OF Fibres OR Filaments Made From Glass, Minerals OR SLAGS; Joining Glass TO Glass OR Other Materials 2

H01J - Electric Discharge Tubes OR Discharge Lamps 2

H01S - Devices Using THE Process OF Light Amplification BY Stimulated Emission OF Radiation [LASER] TO Amplify OR Generate LIGHT; Devices Using Stimulated Emission OF Electromagnetic Radiation IN Wave Ranges Other Than Optical 1

G21K - Techniques FOR Handling Particles OR Ionising Radiation NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Irradiation DEVICES; Gamma RAY OR X-ray Microscopes 1

G01K - Measuring TEMPERATURE; Measuring Quantity OF HEAT; Thermally-sensitive Elements NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 1

G01Q - Scanning-probe Techniques OR APPARATUS; Applications OF Scanning-probe Techniques, e.g. Scanning Probe Microscopy [SPM] 1

G06K - Graphical Data Reading ; Presentation OF DATA; Record CARRIERS; Handling Record Carriers 1

Top 15 of 15 technology areas

More on this record

Data Source

USPTO PatentsView, US granted patents 2015–2025

View all rankings → How is Innovation Score calculated?

What to do with this data

Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd.'s lead technology class is G03F (Photomechanical Production OF Textured OR Patterned Surfaces, e.g. FOR Printing, FOR Processing OF Semiconductor DEVICES; Materials THEREFOR; Originals THEREFOR; Apparatus Specially Adapted THEREFOR;), 84.2% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore G03F
Ranked #8,346 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Carl Zeiss SMS Ltd. against Cloudminds (SHENZHEN) Robotics Systems Co., Ltd., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 61.4/100 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.