Where does Cisco Technologies, Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Cisco Technologies, Inc. ranks #13,921 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 Cisco Technologies, Inc. hold?

Cisco Technologies, Inc. holds 21 US utility patents granted between 2016 and 2025, spanning 14 technology areas.

What is Cisco Technologies, Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Cisco Technologies, Inc. has an Innovation Score of 42.3 out of 100 (top 31% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Cisco Technologies, Inc. focus on?

Cisco Technologies, Inc.'s top technology area is H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication) with 14 patents, ranking #1,832 of 8,956 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 14 CPC subclasses total.

Is Cisco Technologies, Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Cisco Technologies, Inc.'s recent grant velocity is -88% 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 Cisco Technologies, Inc.'s patents?

Cisco Technologies, Inc.'s patents average 19.6 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 Cisco Technologies, 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

Cisco Technologies, Inc.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 21 granted patents across 14 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2016–2025. 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, Cisco ranks #13,921 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 21 patents across 14 technology areas.

#13,921
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 31%
by Innovation Score (42.3/100): 19.6
avg claims per patent: -88%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R13921 · US Corporation #13,921 · 21 grants

GRANTS-SMALL · MID-PACK · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-PAR · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-SMALL 21 grants
MID-PACK #13,921/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Champion Microelectr…
CPC-FOCUS H04L · 14 areas
INNOV-PAR 42.3/100
CLAIMS-RICH 19.6 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DROP -88% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Champion Microelectronic Corporation (±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 Cisco’s 42.3 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 10.7 pts (25%) Velocity 6.7 pts (16%) Breadth 13.2 pts (31%) Claim depth 11.7 pts (28%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Cisco · this assignee

42
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Cisco's Innovation Score is 42.3/100 (top 31% 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 Cisco?

Each dot is one of Cisco’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). Cisco’s own 19.6 claims/patent is ABOVE the 15.9 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

Where Cisco's grants concentrate

Cisco Technologies, Inc. is a focused PatentsView assignee: 14 CPC subclasses with 66.7% of grants classified under H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication). Peak complete grant year is 2016 (9 grants) versus a trough of 1 in 2017. By volume, Cisco sits between Champion Microelectronic Corporation and Control Module, Inc..

Cisco's three-year grant acceleration

Cisco Technologies, Inc. shows 2 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.

Champion Microele…

21
Chengdu Haicun IP…

21
Chimera Bioengine…

21
Ciari Guitars

21
Classiq

21
Clearvue

21
Continental Auton…

21
Control Module

21
Cisco ◀

21

What this shows Cisco holds 21 patents at rank #13,927, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Cisco

By rank, the assignees closest to #13,927 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information)

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

Cisco's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

42 Top 31% higher than 69% 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 · 2016–2025

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2016–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

Cisco Technologies, Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2016	9	42.9%
2017	1	4.8%
2018	5	23.8%
2019	2	9.5%
2022	2	9.5%
2025partial year	2	9.5%

Which technologies does Cisco Technologies, Inc. patent most?

H04L - Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication 14

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 6

H04W - Wireless Communication Networks 4

H04J - Multiplex Communication 2

H04B - Transmission 2

G06N - Computing Arrangements Based ON Specific Computational Models 2

H04M - Telephonic Communication 1

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 1

G01R - Measuring Electric VARIABLES; Measuring Magnetic Variables 1

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 1

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

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 1

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 1

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 1

Top 14 of 14 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

Cisco Technologies, Inc.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Cisco Technologies, Inc.'s lead technology class is H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication), 66.7% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore H04L
Ranked #13,921 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Cisco Technologies, Inc. against Champion Microelectronic Corporation, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 42.3/100 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.