Where does Caterpiller Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Caterpiller Inc. ranks #39,351 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 Caterpiller Inc. hold?

Caterpiller Inc. holds 6 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2020, spanning 13 technology areas.

What is Caterpiller Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Caterpiller Inc. has an Innovation Score of 28.1 out of 100 (26th 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 Caterpiller Inc. focus on?

Caterpiller Inc.'s top technology area is F02D (Controlling Combustion Engines) with 2 patents, ranking #280 of 518 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 13 CPC subclasses total.

Is Caterpiller Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Caterpiller Inc.'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 Caterpiller Inc.'s patents?

Caterpiller Inc.'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 Caterpiller Inc. 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

Caterpiller Inc.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 6 granted patents across 13 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2015–2020. 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: F02D (Controlling Combustion Engines).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Caterpiller ranks #39,351 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 6 patents across 13 technology areas.

#39,351
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: 26th percentile
by Innovation Score (28.1/100): 14.3
avg claims per patent: -80%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R39351 · US Corporation #39,351 · 6 grants

GRANTS-MICRO · LOWER-Q · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-THIN · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MICRO 6 grants
LOWER-Q #39,351/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Carp Solutions
CPC-FOCUS F02D · 13 areas
INNOV-THIN 28.1/100
CLAIMS-RICH 14.3 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DROP -80% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Carp Solutions, 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 Caterpiller’s 28.1 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 6.7 pts (24%) Velocity 0.0 pts (0%) Breadth 12.7 pts (45%) Claim depth 8.6 pts (31%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Caterpiller · this assignee

28
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Caterpiller's Innovation Score is 28.1/100 (26th 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 Caterpiller?

Each dot is one of Caterpiller’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). Caterpiller’s own 14.3 claims/patent is at or below the 15.5 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

Where Caterpiller's grants concentrate

Caterpiller Inc. is a focused PatentsView assignee: 13 CPC subclasses with 33.3% of grants classified under F02D (Controlling Combustion Engines). Peak complete grant year is 2017 (3 grants) versus a trough of 1 in 2015. By volume, Caterpiller sits between Carp Solutions, LLC and Cbros Technologies, LLC.

Carp Solutions

6
Cascade Holdings

6
Casemed Engineeri…

6
Cassava Sciences

6
Cathay (Jinxiang)…

6
Cathedral Energy…

6
Catis Pacific Mfg

6
Cbros

6
Caterpiller ◀

6

What this shows Caterpiller holds 6 patents at rank #39,517, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Caterpiller

By rank, the assignees closest to #39,517 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in F02D (Controlling Combustion Engines)

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

Caterpiller's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

28 26th percentile higher than 26% 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 · 2015–2020

Grants by year

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

View data table

Caterpiller Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	1	16.7%
2017	3	50.0%
2018	1	16.7%
2020	1	16.7%

Which technologies does Caterpiller Inc. patent most?

F02D - Controlling Combustion Engines 2

B60Y - Indexing Scheme Relating TO Aspects Cross-cutting Vehicle Technology 1

F16H - Gearing 1

B60K - Arrangement OR Mounting OF Propulsion Units OR OF Transmissions IN VEHICLES; Arrangement OR Mounting OF Plural Diverse Prime-movers IN VEHICLES; Auxiliary Drives FOR VEHICLES; Instrumentation OR Dashboards FOR VEHICLES; Arrangements IN Connection With Cooling, AIR Intake, GAS Exhaust OR Fuel Supply 1

F02M - Supplying Combustion Engines IN General With Combustible Mixtures OR Constituents Thereof 1

B23P - Metal-working NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Combined OPERATIONS; Universal Machine Tools 1

F02F - Cylinders, Pistons OR Casings, FOR Combustion ENGINES; Arrangements OF Sealings IN Combustion Engines 1

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 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

B33Y - Additive Manufacturing, i.e. Manufacturing OF Three-dimensional [3-D] Objects BY Additive Deposition, Additive Agglomeration OR Additive Layering, e.g. BY 3-D Printing, Stereolithography OR Selective Laser Sintering 1

B23B - TURNING; Boring 1

H02G - Installation OF Electric Cables OR Lines, OR OF Combined Optical AND Electric Cables OR Lines 1

H01R - Electrically-conductive CONNECTIONS; Structural Associations OF A Plurality OF Mutually-insulated Electrical Connecting ELEMENTS; Coupling DEVICES; Current Collectors 1

Top 13 of 13 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

Caterpiller Inc.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Caterpiller Inc.'s lead technology class is F02D (Controlling Combustion Engines), 33.3% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore F02D
Ranked #39,351 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Caterpiller Inc. against Carp Solutions, LLC, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 28.1/100 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.