Where does Hormel Foods Corporation rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Hormel Foods Corporation ranks #28,994 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 Hormel Foods Corporation hold?

Hormel Foods Corporation holds 9 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2020, spanning 11 technology areas.

What is Hormel Foods Corporation's Innovation Score?

Hormel Foods Corporation has an Innovation Score of 30.4 out of 100 (34th percentile of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

Is Hormel Foods Corporation's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Hormel Foods Corporation's recent grant velocity is -87% 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 Hormel Foods Corporation's patents?

Hormel Foods Corporation's patents average 17.8 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 Hormel Foods Corporation 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

Hormel Foods Corporation

Q: What technology areas does Hormel Foods Corporation focus on?

Hormel Foods Corporation's top technology area is A23L (Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic Beverages, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Preparation OR Treatment Thereof) with 6 patents, ranking #278 of 1,325 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 11 CPC subclasses total.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 9 granted patents across 11 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: 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, Hormel ranks #28,994 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 9 patents across 11 technology areas.

#28,994
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: 34th percentile
by Innovation Score (30.4/100): 17.8
avg claims per patent: -87%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R28994 · US Corporation #28,994 · 9 grants

GRANTS-MICRO · MID-PACK · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-THIN · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MICRO 9 grants
MID-PACK #28,994/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Hokkai Can
CPC-FOCUS A23L · 11 areas
INNOV-THIN 30.4/100
CLAIMS-RICH 17.8 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DROP -87% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Hokkai Can 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 Hormel’s 30.4 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 8.0 pts (26%) Velocity 0.0 pts (0%) Breadth 11.7 pts (38%) Claim depth 10.7 pts (35%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Hormel Foods · this assignee

30
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Hormel's Innovation Score is 30.4/100 (34th 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 Hormel?

Each dot is one of Hormel’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). Hormel’s own 17.8 claims/patent is ABOVE the 15.4 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

Where Hormel's grants concentrate

Hormel Foods Corporation is a focused PatentsView assignee: 11 CPC subclasses with 66.7% of grants classified under A23L (Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic Beverages, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Preparation OR Treatment Thereof). Peak complete grant year is 2017 (3 grants) versus a trough of 1 in 2016. By volume, Hormel sits between Hokkai Can Co., Ltd. and Howso Incorporated.

Hokkai Can

9
Holochip

9
Honeywell Honeywe…

9
Horizon Pharma Rh…

9
Hospitech Respira…

9
Hotel Revup

9
Hothand

9
Howso Incorporated

9
Hormel Foods ◀

9

What this shows Hormel holds 9 patents at rank #28,997, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Hormel

By rank, the assignees closest to #28,997 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in A23L (Foods)

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

Hormel's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

30 34th percentile higher than 34% 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

Hormel Foods Corporation patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	2	22.2%
2016	1	11.1%
2017	3	33.3%
2018	1	11.1%
2019	1	11.1%
2020	1	11.1%

Which technologies does Hormel Foods Corporation patent most?

A23L - Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic Beverages, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Preparation OR Treatment Thereof 6

A23B - Preservation OF Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic BEVERAGES; Chemical Ripening OF Fruit OR Vegetables 4

A22C - Processing Meat, Poultry, OR Fish 3

A23V - Indexing Scheme Relating TO Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic Beverages AND Lactic OR Propionic Acid Bacteria Used IN Foodstuffs OR Food Preparation 2

G01N - Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties 1

A47L - Domestic Washing OR Cleaning ; Suction Cleaners IN General 1

A23D - Edible Oils OR Fats, e.g. Margarines, Shortenings OR Cooking Oils 1

A61K - Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes 1

A61P - Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations 1

A22B - Slaughtering 1

A21B - Bakers' OVENS; Machines OR Equipment FOR Baking 1

Top 11 of 11 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

Hormel Foods Corporation's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Hormel Foods Corporation's lead technology class is A23L (Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic Beverages, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Preparation OR Treatment Thereof), 66.7% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore A23L
Ranked #28,994 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Hormel Foods Corporation against Hokkai Can Co., Ltd., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 30.4/100 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.