Where does General Mills, Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), General Mills, Inc. ranks #1,426 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 General Mills, Inc. hold?

General Mills, Inc. holds 294 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 58 technology areas.

What is General Mills, Inc.'s Innovation Score?

General Mills, Inc. has an Innovation Score of 57.5 out of 100 (top 5% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

Is General Mills, Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

General Mills, Inc.'s recent grant velocity is +5% 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 General Mills, Inc.'s patents?

General Mills, Inc.'s patents average 12.1 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 General Mills, 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

General Mills, Inc.

Q: What technology areas does General Mills, Inc. focus on?

General Mills, Inc.'s top technology area is A23L (Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic Beverages, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Preparation OR Treatment Thereof) with 86 patents, ranking #8 of 1,325 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 58 CPC subclasses total.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 294 granted patents across 58 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: A23L (Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic Beverages, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Preparation OR Treatment Thereof).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, General ranks #1,426 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 294 patents across 58 technology areas.

#1,426
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 5%
by Innovation Score (57.5/100): 12.1
avg claims per patent: +5%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R1426 · US Corporation #1,426 · 294 grants

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

GRANTS-MID 294 grants
TOP-DECILE #1,426/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Chengdu Monolithic…
CPC-WIDE A23L · 58 areas
INNOV-PAR 57.5/100
CLAIMS-RICH 12.1 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-FLAT +5% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Chengdu Monolithic Power Systems Co., Ltd. (±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 General’s 57.5 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 19.6 pts (34%) Velocity 5.5 pts (10%) Breadth 25.0 pts (44%) Claim depth 7.3 pts (13%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Bell Helicopter… · near

57
Fujikin Incorporated · near

57
General Mills · this assignee

57
Purdue Pharma · near

57
Safran Helicopter… · near

57
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows General's Innovation Score is 57.5/100 (top 5% 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 General?

Each dot is one of General’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). General’s own 12.1 claims/patent is at or below the 17.6 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

How General's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, General Mills, Inc. received 142 grants versus 135 in 2015–2019 (+5% equal-window velocity, above median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2020 at 42 grants and bottomed in 2016 at 19. Lead class A23L accounts for 29.3% of the portfolio across 58 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Konica Minolta Laboratory U.S.A., Inc. (#1,422) and University of Washington through its Center for Commercialization (#1,430).

General's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, General Mills, Inc. moved from 94 to 78 grants (0.83x 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 #1,719. See the growth leaderboard.

Konica Minolta La…

295
Macom Technology…

295
Nucurrent

295
Chengdu Monolithi…

294
Genius Optical (X…

294
Silicon Storage T…

294
General Mills ◀

294
Globalwafers

293
University of Was…

293

What this shows General holds 294 patents at rank #1,426, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near General

By rank, the assignees closest to #1,426 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in A23L (Foods)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for General, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In A23L (Foods), General ranks #8 of 1,325 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (57 here).

Fujikin Incorporated 57 Purdue Pharma L.P. 57 Safran Helicopter Engines 57 Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. 57

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (12.1 here).

Keiper GMBH & Co. KG 12.1 avg Japan Science and Technology Agency 12.1 avg Black & Decker Inc. 12.1 avg Fuji Seal International, Inc. 12.1 avg

General's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

57 Top 5% higher than 95% 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

General Mills, Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	26	8.8%
2016	19	6.5%
2017	34	11.6%
2018	26	8.8%
2019	30	10.2%
2020	42	14.3%
2021	22	7.5%
2022	24	8.2%
2023	20	6.8%
2024	34	11.6%
2025partial year	17	5.8%

Which technologies does General Mills, Inc. patent most?

A23L - Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic Beverages, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Preparation OR Treatment Thereof 86

A21D - Treatment OF Flour OR Dough FOR Baking, e.g. BY Addition OF MATERIALS; BAKING; Bakery Products 56

A23V - Indexing Scheme Relating TO Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic Beverages AND Lactic OR Propionic Acid Bacteria Used IN Foodstuffs OR Food Preparation 55

A23P - Shaping OR Working OF Foodstuffs, NOT Fully Covered BY A Single Other Subclass 49

B65D - Containers FOR Storage OR Transport OF Articles OR Materials, e.g. Bags, Barrels, Bottles, Boxes, Cans, Cartons, Crates, Drums, Jars, Tanks, Hoppers, Forwarding CONTAINERS; Accessories, Closures, OR Fittings THEREFOR; Packaging ELEMENTS; Packages 31

A23G - COCOA; Cocoa Products, e.g. CHOCOLATE; Substitutes FOR Cocoa OR Cocoa PRODUCTS; CONFECTIONERY; Chewing GUM; ICE-CREAM; Preparation Thereof 28

A21C - Machines OR Equipment FOR Making OR Processing DOUGHS; Handling Baked Articles Made From Dough 27

B65B - Machines, Apparatus OR Devices FOR, OR Methods OF, Packaging Articles OR MATERIALS; Unpacking 19

A23B - Preservation OF Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic BEVERAGES; Chemical Ripening OF Fruit OR Vegetables 16

A23D - Edible Oils OR Fats, e.g. Margarines, Shortenings OR Cooking Oils 15

A23C - Dairy Products, e.g. Milk, Butter OR CHEESE; Milk OR Cheese SUBSTITUTES; Making OR Treatment Thereof 14

A23J - Protein Compositions FOR FOODSTUFFS; Working-up Proteins FOR FOODSTUFFS; Phosphatide Compositions FOR Foodstuffs 12

G01N - Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties 9

A47J - Kitchen EQUIPMENT; Coffee MILLS; Spice MILLS; Apparatus FOR Making Beverages 9

B02B - Preparing Grain FOR MILLING; Refining Granular Fruit TO Commercial Products BY Working THE Surface 8

Top 15 of 58 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

General Mills, Inc.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

General Mills, Inc.'s lead technology class is A23L (Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic Beverages, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Preparation OR Treatment Thereof), 29.3% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore A23L
Ranked #1,426 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare General Mills, Inc. against Konica Minolta Laboratory U.S.A., Inc., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 57.5/100 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.