Where does ETH Zurich rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), ETH Zurich ranks #2,140 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 ETH Zurich hold?

ETH Zurich holds 184 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 130 technology areas.

What is ETH Zurich's Innovation Score?

ETH Zurich has an Innovation Score of 58.8 out of 100 (top 4% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does ETH Zurich focus on?

ETH Zurich's top technology area is A61K (Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes) with 32 patents, ranking #706 of 7,163 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 130 CPC subclasses total.

Is ETH Zurich's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

ETH Zurich's recent grant velocity is +9% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). The company is maintaining or growing its granted-patent output.

What does claim depth mean for ETH Zurich's patents?

ETH Zurich's patents average 16.4 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 ETH Zurich 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

ETH Zurich

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 184 granted patents across 130 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: A61K (Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

RSS updates for this company

Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, ETH ranks #2,140 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 184 patents across 130 technology areas.

#2,140
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 4%
by Innovation Score (58.8/100): 16.4
avg claims per patent: +9%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R2140 · Foreign Corporation #2,140 · 184 grants

GRANTS-MID · TOP-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-WIDE · INNOV-PAR · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-FRNCORP · VEL-FLAT · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MID 184 grants
TOP-DECILE #2,140/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Adtran
CPC-WIDE A61K · 130 areas
INNOV-PAR 58.8/100
CLAIMS-RICH 16.4 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-FLAT +9% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Adtran, 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 ETH’s 58.8 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 18.0 pts (31%) Velocity 5.9 pts (10%) Breadth 25.0 pts (43%) Claim depth 9.9 pts (17%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Aesculap · near

59
Kyushu University… · near

59
Sanyo Electric · near

59
ETH Zurich · this assignee

59
Rain Bird · near

59
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows ETH's Innovation Score is 58.8/100 (top 4% 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 ETH?

Each dot is one of ETH’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). ETH’s own 16.4 claims/patent is ABOVE the 10.6 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

How ETH's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, ETH Zurich received 86 grants versus 79 in 2015–2019 (+9% equal-window velocity, above median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2018 at 26 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 5. Lead class A61K accounts for 17.4% of the portfolio across 130 subclasses. Volume neighbours: ZEDEL (#2,136) and Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (#2,144).

ETH's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, ETH Zurich moved from 55 to 49 grants (0.89x 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 #1,515. See the growth leaderboard.

Zedel

185
Asics

184
Adtran

184
Dart Industries

184
Foundation OF Soo…

184
Gates

184
Keio University

184
Live Nation Enter…

184
ETH Zurich ◀

184

What this shows ETH holds 184 patents at rank #2,140, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near ETH

By rank, the assignees closest to #2,140 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in A61K (Preparations FOR Medical)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for ETH, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In A61K (Preparations FOR Medical), ETH ranks #706 of 7,163 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (59 here).

Rain Bird Corporation 59 Kyushu University, National University Corporation 59 Aesculap AG 59 Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. 59

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (16.4 here).

Tile, Inc. 16.4 avg Xiamen Sanan Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. 16.4 avg Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. 16.4 avg Erico International Corporation 16.4 avg

ETH's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

59 Top 4% higher than 96% 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

ETH Zurich patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	5	2.7%
2016	10	5.4%
2017	20	10.9%
2018	26	14.1%
2019	18	9.8%
2020	15	8.2%
2021	22	12.0%
2022	13	7.1%
2023	20	10.9%
2024	16	8.7%
2025partial year	19	10.3%

Which technologies does ETH Zurich patent most?

A61K - Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes 32

G01N - Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties 30

A61P - Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations 23

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 19

C12N - Microorganisms OR ENZYMES; Compositions THEREOF; Propagating, Preserving, OR Maintaining MICROORGANISMS; Mutation OR Genetic ENGINEERING; Culture Media 17

B01J - Chemical OR Physical Processes, e.g. Catalysis OR Colloid CHEMISTRY; Their Relevant Apparatus 14

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 12

C12Q - Measuring OR Testing Processes Involving Enzymes, Nucleic Acids OR Microorganisms ; Compositions OR Test Papers THEREFOR; Processes OF Preparing Such COMPOSITIONS; Condition-responsive Control IN Microbiological OR Enzymological Processes 12

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 11

C07D - Heterocyclic Compounds 10

C07K - Peptides 10

C07C - Acyclic OR Carbocyclic Compounds 9

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 9

Y02E - Reduction OF Greenhouse GAS [GHG] Emissions, Related TO Energy Generation, Transmission OR Distribution 8

G06N - Computing Arrangements Based ON Specific Computational Models 8

Top 15 of 130 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

ETH Zurich's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

ETH Zurich's lead technology class is A61K (Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes), 17.4% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore A61K
Ranked #2,140 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare ETH Zurich against ZEDEL, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 58.8/100 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.