Where does Ernie Ball, Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Ernie Ball, Inc. ranks #46,558 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 Ernie Ball, Inc. hold?

Ernie Ball, Inc. holds 5 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2020, spanning 2 technology areas.

What is Ernie Ball, Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Ernie Ball, Inc. has an Innovation Score of 18.8 out of 100 (5th percentile of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

Is Ernie Ball, Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Ernie Ball, Inc.'s recent grant velocity is -75% 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 Ernie Ball, Inc.'s patents?

Ernie Ball, Inc.'s patents average 12.6 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 Ernie Ball, 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

Ernie Ball, Inc.

Q: What technology areas does Ernie Ball, Inc. focus on?

Ernie Ball, Inc.'s top technology area is G10D (Stringed Musical INSTRUMENTS; Wind Musical INSTRUMENTS; Accordions OR CONCERTINAS; Percussion Musical INSTRUMENTS; Aeolian HARPS; Singing-flame Musical INSTRUMENTS; Musical Instruments NOT Otherwise Provided FOR) with 2 patents, ranking #43 of 62 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 2 CPC subclasses total.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 5 granted patents across 2 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: G10D (Stringed Musical INSTRUMENTS; Wind Musical INSTRUMENTS; Accordions OR CONCERTINAS; Percussion Musical INSTRUMENTS; Aeolian HARPS; Singing-flame Musical INSTRUMENTS; Musical Instruments NOT Otherwise P).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Ernie ranks #46,558 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 5 patents across 2 technology areas.

#46,558
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: 5th percentile
by Innovation Score (18.8/100): 12.6
avg claims per patent: -75%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R46558 · US Corporation #46,558 · 5 grants

GRANTS-MICRO · BOTTOM-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-NARROW · INNOV-LOW · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MICRO 5 grants
BOTTOM-DECILE #46,558/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Equinox Ophthalmic
CPC-NARROW G10D · 2 areas
INNOV-LOW 18.8/100
CLAIMS-RICH 12.6 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DROP -75% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Equinox Ophthalmic, 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 Ernie’s 18.8 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 6.2 pts (33%) Velocity 0.0 pts (0%) Breadth 5.0 pts (27%) Claim depth 7.6 pts (40%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Ernie Ball · this assignee

19
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Ernie's Innovation Score is 18.8/100 (5th 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 Ernie?

Each dot is one of Ernie’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). Ernie’s own 12.6 claims/patent is at or below the 13.8 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

Where Ernie's grants concentrate

Ernie Ball, Inc. is a focused PatentsView assignee: 2 CPC subclasses with 40% of grants classified under G10D (Stringed Musical INSTRUMENTS; Wind Musical INSTRUMENTS; Accordions OR CONCERTINAS; Percussion Musical INSTRUMENTS; Aeolian HARPS; Singing-flame Musical INSTRUMENTS; Musical Instruments NOT Otherwise P). Peak complete grant year is 2015 (3 grants) versus a trough of 1 in 2017. By volume, Ernie sits between Equinox Ophthalmic, Inc. and Essex Solutions USA LLC.

Equinox Ophthalmic

5
Ergo-industrial S…

5
Eric Beare Associ…

5
Eris Innovations

5
Erskine Medical

5
Esprix

5
Essence Method Re…

5
Essex Solutions U…

5
Ernie Ball ◀

5

What this shows Ernie holds 5 patents at rank #46,615, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Ernie

By rank, the assignees closest to #46,615 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in G10D (Stringed Musical Instruments)

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

Ernie's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

19 5th percentile higher than 5% 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

Ernie Ball, Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	3	60.0%
2017	1	20.0%
2020	1	20.0%

Which technologies does Ernie Ball, Inc. patent most?

G10D - Stringed Musical INSTRUMENTS; Wind Musical INSTRUMENTS; Accordions OR CONCERTINAS; Percussion Musical INSTRUMENTS; Aeolian HARPS; Singing-flame Musical INSTRUMENTS; Musical Instruments NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 2

G10H - Electrophonic Musical INSTRUMENTS; Instruments IN Which THE Tones ARE Generated BY Electromechanical Means OR Electronic Generators, OR IN Which THE Tones ARE Synthesised From A Data Store 2

Top 2 of 2 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

Ernie Ball, Inc.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Ernie Ball, Inc.'s lead technology class is G10D (Stringed Musical INSTRUMENTS; Wind Musical INSTRUMENTS; Accordions OR CONCERTINAS; Percussion Musical INSTRUMENTS; Aeolian HARPS; Singing-flame Musical INSTRUMENTS; Musical Instruments NOT Otherwise P), 40% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore G10D
Ranked #46,558 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Ernie Ball, Inc. against Equinox Ophthalmic, Inc., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 18.8/100 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.