Where does Caterpillar (NI) Limited rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Caterpillar (NI) Limited ranks #34,683 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 Caterpillar (NI) Limited hold?

Caterpillar (NI) Limited holds 7 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 10 technology areas.

What is Caterpillar (NI) Limited's Innovation Score?

Caterpillar (NI) Limited has an Innovation Score of 30.9 out of 100 (36th percentile of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Caterpillar (NI) Limited focus on?

Caterpillar (NI) Limited's top technology area is F02B (Internal-combustion Piston ENGINES; Combustion Engines IN General) with 4 patents, ranking #183 of 496 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 10 CPC subclasses total.

Is Caterpillar (NI) Limited's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Caterpillar (NI) Limited's recent grant velocity is -80% 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 Caterpillar (NI) Limited's patents?

Caterpillar (NI) Limited's patents average 9.7 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 Caterpillar (NI) Limited 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

Caterpillar (NI) Limited

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 7 granted patents across 10 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: F02B (Internal-combustion Piston ENGINES; Combustion Engines IN General).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Caterpillar ranks #34,683 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 7 patents across 10 technology areas.

#34,683
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: 36th percentile
by Innovation Score (30.9/100): 9.7
avg claims per patent: -80%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R34683 · Foreign Corporation #34,683 · 7 grants

GRANTS-MICRO · MID-PACK · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-THIN · CLAIMS-PAR · TYPE-FRNCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MICRO 7 grants
MID-PACK #34,683/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Cascade Mountain
CPC-FOCUS F02B · 10 areas
INNOV-THIN 30.9/100
CLAIMS-PAR 9.7 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-DROP -80% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Cascade Mountain Technologies, LLC (±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 Caterpillar’s 30.9 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 7.2 pts (23%) Velocity 6.7 pts (22%) Breadth 11.2 pts (36%) Claim depth 5.8 pts (19%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Caterpillar (NI) · this assignee

31
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Caterpillar's Innovation Score is 30.9/100 (36th percentile 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 Caterpillar?

Each dot is one of Caterpillar’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). Caterpillar’s own 9.7 claims/patent is at or below the 14.6 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

Where Caterpillar's grants concentrate

Caterpillar (NI) Limited is a focused PatentsView assignee: 10 CPC subclasses with 57.1% of grants classified under F02B (Internal-combustion Piston ENGINES; Combustion Engines IN General). Peak complete grant year is 2015 (2 grants) versus a trough of 1 in 2016. By volume, Caterpillar sits between Cascade Mountain Technologies, LLC and Cazena, Inc..

Caterpillar's three-year grant acceleration

Caterpillar (NI) Limited shows 1 grants in 2022–2024 against only 0 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.

Cascade Mountain

7
Cascades Sonoco

7
Casepoint

7
Castle Fit

7
Caterpillar Fores…

7
Cathbuddy

7
Catheter Connecti…

7
Cazena

7
Caterpillar (NI) ◀

7

What this shows Caterpillar holds 7 patents at rank #34,795, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Caterpillar

By rank, the assignees closest to #34,795 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in F02B (Internal-combustion Piston Engines)

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

Caterpillar's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

31 36th percentile higher than 36% 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

Caterpillar (NI) Limited patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	2	28.6%
2016	1	14.3%
2017	2	28.6%
2024	1	14.3%
2025partial year	1	14.3%

Which technologies does Caterpillar (NI) Limited patent most?

F02B - Internal-combustion Piston ENGINES; Combustion Engines IN General 4

H02K - Dynamo-electric Machines 2

F05D - Indexing Scheme FOR Aspects Relating TO Non-positive-displacement Machines OR Engines, Gas-turbines OR Jet-propulsion Plants 1

F16M - Frames, Casings OR Beds OF Engines, Machines OR Apparatus, NOT Specific TO Engines, Machines OR Apparatus Provided FOR ELSEWHERE; STANDS; Supports 1

H05K - Printed CIRCUITS; Casings OR Constructional Details OF Electric APPARATUS; Manufacture OF Assemblages OF Electrical Components 1

F01P - Cooling OF Machines OR Engines IN GENERAL; Cooling OF Internal-combustion Engines 1

B65D - Containers FOR Storage OR Transport OF Articles OR Materials, e.g. Bags, Barrels, Bottles, Boxes, Cans, Cartons, Crates, Drums, Jars, Tanks, Hoppers, Forwarding CONTAINERS; Accessories, Closures, OR Fittings THEREFOR; Packaging ELEMENTS; Packages 1

E04H - Buildings OR Like Structures FOR Particular PURPOSES; Swimming OR Splash Baths OR POOLS; MASTS; FENCING; Tents OR Canopies, IN General 1

H02J - Circuit Arrangements OR Systems FOR Supplying OR Distributing Electric POWER; Systems FOR Storing Electric Energy 1

H02P - Control OR Regulation OF Electric Motors, Electric Generators OR Dynamo-electric CONVERTERS; Controlling Transformers, Reactors OR Choke Coils 1

Top 10 of 10 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

Caterpillar (NI) Limited's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Caterpillar (NI) Limited's lead technology class is F02B (Internal-combustion Piston ENGINES; Combustion Engines IN General), 57.1% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore F02B
Ranked #34,683 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Caterpillar (NI) Limited against Cascade Mountain Technologies, LLC, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 30.9/100 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.