Where does Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA ranks #965 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 Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA hold?

Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA holds 456 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 118 technology areas.

What is Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA's Innovation Score?

Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA has an Innovation Score of 62.6 out of 100 (top 2% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

Is Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA's recent grant velocity is +448% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). This indicates accelerating grant output.

What does claim depth mean for Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA's patents?

Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA's patents average 12.0 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 Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA 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

Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA

Q: What technology areas does Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA focus on?

Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA's top technology area is F21S (Non-portable Lighting DEVICES; Systems THEREOF; Vehicle Lighting Devices Specially Adapted FOR Vehicle Exteriors) with 195 patents, ranking #9 of 1,094 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 118 CPC subclasses total.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 456 granted patents across 118 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: F21S (Non-portable Lighting DEVICES; Systems THEREOF; Vehicle Lighting Devices Specially Adapted FOR Vehicle Exteriors).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Hella ranks #965 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 456 patents across 118 technology areas.

#965
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 2%
by Innovation Score (62.6/100): 12.0
avg claims per patent: +448%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R965 · Foreign Corporation #965 · 456 grants

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

GRANTS-MID 456 grants
TOP-DECILE #965/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Fisher Controls…
CPC-WIDE F21S · 118 areas
INNOV-STRONG 62.6/100
CLAIMS-RICH 12.0 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-SURGE +448% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Fisher Controls International LLC (±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 Hella’s 62.6 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 21.2 pts (34%) Velocity 9.2 pts (15%) Breadth 25.0 pts (40%) Claim depth 7.2 pts (12%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Abbyy Development · near

63
Saint-gobain… · near

63
STMicroelectronics… · near

63
Essilor International · near

63
Hella & KGaA · this assignee

63
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Hella's Innovation Score is 62.6/100 (top 2% 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 Hella?

Each dot is one of Hella’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). Hella’s own 12.0 claims/patent is at or below the 13.4 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

How Hella's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA received 318 grants versus 58 in 2015–2019 (+448% equal-window velocity, top decile growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2024 at 79 grants and bottomed in 2016 at 2. Lead class F21S accounts for 42.8% of the portfolio across 118 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Huazhong University of Science and Technology (#961) and Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. (#969).

Hella's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA moved from 149 to 205 grants (1.38x 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 #543. See the growth leaderboard.

Huazhong Universi…

458
Sandvik Intellect…

458
ADP

457
Fisher Controls I…

456
Hella & Kgaa ◀

456
Hanwha Techwin

454
Invensas

454
Murata Machinery

454
Bombardier Recrea…

453

What this shows Hella holds 456 patents at rank #965, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Hella

By rank, the assignees closest to #965 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in F21S (Non-portable Lighting Devices)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Hella, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In F21S (Non-portable Lighting Devices), Hella ranks #9 of 1,094 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (63 here).

Essilor International 63 Saint-gobain Ceramics & Plastics, Inc. 63 STMicroelectronics (Alps) SAS 63 Abbyy Development Inc. 63

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (12.0 here).

Kyushu University, National University Corporation 12.0 avg UBE Industries, Ltd. 12.0 avg Stanley Electric Co., Ltd. 12.0 avg Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation 12.0 avg

Hella's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

63 Top 2% higher than 98% 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

Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	3	0.7%
2016	2	0.4%
2017	3	0.7%
2018	14	3.1%
2019	36	7.9%
2020	54	11.8%
2021	59	12.9%
2022	68	14.9%
2023	58	12.7%
2024	79	17.3%
2025partial year	80	17.5%

Which technologies does Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA patent most?

F21S - Non-portable Lighting DEVICES; Systems THEREOF; Vehicle Lighting Devices Specially Adapted FOR Vehicle Exteriors 195

B60Q - Arrangement OF Signalling OR Lighting Devices, THE Mounting OR Supporting Thereof OR Circuits Therefor, FOR Vehicles IN General 122

F21W - Indexing Scheme Associated With Subclasses F21k, F21l, F21s and F21v, Relating TO Uses OR Applications OF Lighting Devices OR Systems 52

F21Y - Indexing Scheme Associated With Subclasses F21k, F21l, F21s and F21v, Relating TO THE Form OR THE Kind OF THE Light Sources OR OF THE Colour OF THE Light Emitted 44

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 43

H05B - Electric HEATING; Electric Light Sources NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Circuit Arrangements FOR Electric Light Sources, IN General 41

B60R - Vehicles, Vehicle Fittings, OR Vehicle Parts, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 37

F21V - Functional Features OR Details OF Lighting Devices OR Systems THEREOF; Structural Combinations OF Lighting Devices With Other Articles, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 35

G01S - Radio DIRECTION-FINDING; Radio NAVIGATION; Determining Distance OR Velocity BY USE OF Radio WAVES; Locating OR Presence-detecting BY USE OF THE Reflection OR Reradiation OF Radio WAVES; Analogous Arrangements Using Other Waves 33

B60K - Arrangement OR Mounting OF Propulsion Units OR OF Transmissions IN VEHICLES; Arrangement OR Mounting OF Plural Diverse Prime-movers IN VEHICLES; Auxiliary Drives FOR VEHICLES; Instrumentation OR Dashboards FOR VEHICLES; Arrangements IN Connection With Cooling, AIR Intake, GAS Exhaust OR Fuel Supply 22

Y02T - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies Related TO Transportation 18

H05K - Printed CIRCUITS; Casings OR Constructional Details OF Electric APPARATUS; Manufacture OF Assemblages OF Electrical Components 18

B29C - Shaping OR Joining OF PLASTICS; Shaping OF Material IN A Plastic State, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; After-treatment OF THE Shaped Products, e.g. Repairing 18

B29L - Indexing Scheme Associated With Subclass B29c, Relating TO Particular Articles 17

H02J - Circuit Arrangements OR Systems FOR Supplying OR Distributing Electric POWER; Systems FOR Storing Electric Energy 15

Top 15 of 118 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

Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA's lead technology class is F21S (Non-portable Lighting DEVICES; Systems THEREOF; Vehicle Lighting Devices Specially Adapted FOR Vehicle Exteriors), 42.8% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore F21S
Ranked #965 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA against Huazhong University of Science and Technology, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 62.6/100 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.