Where does CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC ranks #641 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 CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC hold?

CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC holds 695 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 68 technology areas.

What is CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC's Innovation Score?

CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC has an Innovation Score of 63.3 out of 100 (top 2% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC focus on?

CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC's top technology area is H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication) with 412 patents, ranking #112 of 8,956 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 68 CPC subclasses total.

Is CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC's recent grant velocity is -34% 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 CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC's patents?

CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC's patents average 18.8 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 CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC 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

CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 695 granted patents across 68 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: H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Centurylink ranks #641 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 695 patents across 68 technology areas.

#641
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 2%
by Innovation Score (63.3/100): 18.8
avg claims per patent: -34%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R641 · US Corporation #641 · 695 grants

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

GRANTS-MID 695 grants
TOP-DECILE #641/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Cerner Innovation
CPC-WIDE H04L · 68 areas
INNOV-STRONG 63.3/100
CLAIMS-RICH 18.8 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DOWN -34% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Cerner Innovation, 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 Centurylink’s 63.3 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 22.6 pts (36%) Velocity 4.4 pts (7%) Breadth 25.0 pts (39%) Claim depth 11.3 pts (18%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Rutgers the State… · near

63
CenturyLink… · this assignee

63
Compagnie Generale… · near

63
KCI Licensing · near

63
Stratasys · near

63
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Centurylink's Innovation Score is 63.3/100 (top 2% 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 Centurylink?

Each dot is one of Centurylink’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). Centurylink’s own 18.8 claims/patent is ABOVE the 15.8 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

How Centurylink's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC received 263 grants versus 401 in 2015–2019 (-34% equal-window velocity, below median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2015 at 119 grants and bottomed in 2022 at 28. Lead class H04L accounts for 59.3% of the portfolio across 68 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Inc Square, Co., Ltd (#637) and Posco Co., Ltd (#645).

Centurylink's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC moved from 204 to 136 grants (0.67x 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 #2,260. See the growth leaderboard.

Square

699
Lite-on Technology

699
Rutgers the State…

698
Arizona Board of…

696
Cerner Innovation

695
Centurylink Intel… ◀

695
Callaway Golf

694
Cameron Internati…

692
Posco

691

What this shows CenturyLink holds 695 patents at rank #641, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near CenturyLink

By rank, the assignees closest to #641 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for CenturyLink, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information), CenturyLink ranks #112 of 8,956 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (63 here).

KCI Licensing, Inc. 63 Stratasys Ltd. 63 Compagnie Generale DES Etablissements Michelin 63 Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey 63

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (18.8 here).

Sew-eurodrive GMBH & Co. KG 18.8 avg Tyco Fire Products LP 18.8 avg Forescout Technologies, Inc. 18.8 avg Tufts Medical Center, Inc. 18.8 avg

Centurylink's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

63 Top 2% higher than 98% 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

CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	119	17.1%
2016	72	10.4%
2017	55	7.9%
2018	78	11.2%
2019	77	11.1%
2020	85	12.2%
2021	42	6.0%
2022	28	4.0%
2023	52	7.5%
2024	56	8.1%
2025partial year	31	4.5%

Which technologies does CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC patent most?

H04L - Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication 412

H04W - Wireless Communication Networks 208

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 146

H04M - Telephonic Communication 133

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 99

H04B - Transmission 52

G06Q - Information AND Communication Technology [ICT] Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory PURPOSES; Systems OR Methods Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory Purposes, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 47

H04Q - Selecting 34

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 22

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 22

Y02D - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies IN Information AND Communication Technologies [ICT], I.E. Information AND Communication Technologies Aiming AT THE Reduction OF Their OWN Energy USE 22

H02G - Installation OF Electric Cables OR Lines, OR OF Combined Optical AND Electric Cables OR Lines 19

H01Q - Antennas, i.e. Radio Aerials 19

G10L - Speech Analysis Techniques OR Speech SYNTHESIS; Speech RECOGNITION; Speech OR Voice Processing TECHNIQUES; Speech OR Audio Coding OR Decoding 13

Y04S - Systems Integrating Technologies Related TO Power Network Operation, Communication OR Information Technologies FOR Improving THE Electrical Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution, Management OR Usage, i.e. Smart Grids 12

Top 15 of 68 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

CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC's lead technology class is H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication), 59.3% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore H04L
Ranked #641 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC against Inc Square, Co., Ltd, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 63.3/100 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.