Where does Durham University rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Durham University ranks #12,903 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 Durham University hold?

Durham University holds 23 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2024, spanning 26 technology areas.

What is Durham University's Innovation Score?

Durham University has an Innovation Score of 41.8 out of 100 (top 32% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Durham University focus on?

Durham University's top technology area is C09K (Materials FOR Miscellaneous Applications, NOT Provided FOR Elsewhere) with 13 patents, ranking #227 of 1,605 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 26 CPC subclasses total.

Is Durham University's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Durham University's recent grant velocity is +129% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). This indicates accelerating grant output.

What does claim depth mean for Durham University's patents?

Durham University's patents average 18.9 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 Durham University 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

Durham University

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 23 granted patents across 26 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: C09K (Materials FOR Miscellaneous Applications, NOT Provided FOR Elsewhere).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Durham ranks #12,903 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 23 patents across 26 technology areas.

#12,903
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 32%
by Innovation Score (41.8/100): 18.9
avg claims per patent: +129%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R12903 · Foreign Corporation #12,903 · 23 grants

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

GRANTS-SMALL 23 grants
MID-PACK #12,903/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH DAB Pumps S P A
CPC-FOCUS C09K · 26 areas
INNOV-PAR 41.8/100
CLAIMS-RICH 18.9 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-SURGE +129% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: DAB Pumps S.P.A. (±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 Durham’s 41.8 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 11.0 pts (26%) Velocity 1.4 pts (3%) Breadth 18.0 pts (43%) Claim depth 11.3 pts (27%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Durham University · this assignee

42
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Durham's Innovation Score is 41.8/100 (top 32% 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 Durham?

Each dot is one of Durham’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). Durham’s own 18.9 claims/patent is ABOVE the 8.3 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

Where Durham's grants concentrate

Durham University is a focused PatentsView assignee: 26 CPC subclasses with 56.5% of grants classified under C09K (Materials FOR Miscellaneous Applications, NOT Provided FOR Elsewhere). Peak complete grant year is 2020 (8 grants) versus a trough of 1 in 2015. By volume, Durham sits between DAB Pumps S.P.A. and Definiens GmbH.

Durham's three-year grant acceleration

Durham University shows 3 grants in 2022–2024 against only 14 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.

DAB Pumps S P A

23
Dehn + SÖHNE + KG

23
Dongguan Kentec O…

23
Driscoll Strawber…

23
Dynascan Technolo…

23
Dango Products

23
Dedrone Holdings

23
Definiens

23
Durham University ◀

23

What this shows Durham holds 23 patents at rank #12,893, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Durham

By rank, the assignees closest to #12,893 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in C09K (Materials FOR Miscellaneous Applications)

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

Durham's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

42 Top 32% higher than 68% 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

Durham University patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	1	4.3%
2017	1	4.3%
2018	4	17.4%
2019	1	4.3%
2020	8	34.8%
2021	5	21.7%
2022	1	4.3%
2023	1	4.3%
2024	1	4.3%

Which technologies does Durham University patent most?

C09K - Materials FOR Miscellaneous Applications, NOT Provided FOR Elsewhere 13

B01J - Chemical OR Physical Processes, e.g. Catalysis OR Colloid CHEMISTRY; Their Relevant Apparatus 7

C01P - Indexing Scheme Relating TO Structural AND Physical Aspects OF Solid Inorganic Compounds 6

C01F - Compounds OF THE Metals Beryllium, Magnesium, Aluminium, Calcium, Strontium, Barium, Radium, Thorium, OR OF THE Rare-earth Metals 4

C07C - Acyclic OR Carbocyclic Compounds 4

C12N - Microorganisms OR ENZYMES; Compositions THEREOF; Propagating, Preserving, OR Maintaining MICROORGANISMS; Mutation OR Genetic ENGINEERING; Culture Media 4

C07F - Acyclic, Carbocyclic OR Heterocyclic Compounds Containing Elements Other Than Carbon, Hydrogen, Halogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Sulfur, Selenium OR Tellurium 3

B01D - Separation 2

A61P - Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations 2

C09B - Organic Dyes OR Closely-related Compounds FOR Producing Dyes ; , e.g. PIGMENTS; MORDANTS; Lakes 2

A61K - Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes 2

C07D - Heterocyclic Compounds 2

E21B - Earth OR Rock DRILLING; Obtaining OIL, GAS, Water, Soluble OR Meltable Materials OR A Slurry OF Minerals From Wells 2

B22F - Working Metallic POWDER; Manufacture OF Articles From Metallic POWDER; Making Metallic Powder ; Apparatus OR Devices Specially Adapted FOR Metallic Powder 2

C01B - Non-metallic ELEMENTS; Compounds THEREOF; ; Metalloids OR Compounds Thereof NOT Covered BY Subclass C01c 2

Top 15 of 26 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

Durham University's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Durham University's lead technology class is C09K (Materials FOR Miscellaneous Applications, NOT Provided FOR Elsewhere), 56.5% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore C09K
Ranked #12,903 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Durham University against DAB Pumps S.P.A., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 41.8/100 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.