Where does KAO Corporation rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), KAO Corporation ranks #464 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 KAO Corporation hold?

KAO Corporation holds 957 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 173 technology areas.

What is KAO Corporation's Innovation Score?

KAO Corporation has an Innovation Score of 63.5 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%).

What technology areas does KAO Corporation focus on?

KAO Corporation's top technology area is A61K (Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes) with 279 patents, ranking #55 of 7,163 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 173 CPC subclasses total.

Is KAO Corporation's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

KAO Corporation's recent grant velocity is +13% 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 KAO Corporation's patents?

KAO Corporation's patents average 14.6 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 KAO 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 Foreign Corporation

KAO Corporation

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 957 granted patents across 173 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, KAO ranks #464 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 957 patents across 173 technology areas.

#464
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 2%
by Innovation Score (63.5/100): 14.6
avg claims per patent: +13%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R464 · Foreign Corporation #464 · 957 grants

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

GRANTS-MID 957 grants
TOP-DECILE #464/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Lenovo Enterprise…
CPC-WIDE A61K · 173 areas
INNOV-STRONG 63.5/100
CLAIMS-RICH 14.6 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-UP +13% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (SINGAPORE) PTE. 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 KAO’s 63.5 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 23.7 pts (37%) Velocity 6.0 pts (9%) Breadth 25.0 pts (39%) Claim depth 8.8 pts (14%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
InterDigital… · near

63
KAO · this assignee

63
The University of… · near

63
Tianjin University · near

63
Advantest · near

63
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows KAO's Innovation Score is 63.5/100 (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 KAO?

Each dot is one of KAO’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). KAO’s own 14.6 claims/patent is ABOVE the 12.5 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

How KAO's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, KAO Corporation received 467 grants versus 415 in 2015–2019 (+13% equal-window velocity, above median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2015 at 118 grants and bottomed in 2018 at 64. Lead class A61K accounts for 29.2% of the portfolio across 173 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Ebara Corporation (#460) and Hand Held Products, Inc. (#468).

KAO's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, KAO Corporation moved from 284 to 255 grants (0.90x 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 #1,483. See the growth leaderboard.

Ebara

983
Foxconn Interconn…

974
Asustek Computer

970
Marvell World Tra…

967
Lenovo Enterprise…

957
KAO ◀

957
Korea University…

947
AAC Pte

946
Hand Held Products

946

What this shows KAO holds 957 patents at rank #464, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near KAO

By rank, the assignees closest to #464 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in A61K (Preparations FOR Medical)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for KAO, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In A61K (Preparations FOR Medical), KAO ranks #55 of 7,163 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (63 here).

Tianjin University 63 The University of Southern Mississippi 63 Advantest Corporation 63 InterDigital Madison Patent Holdings, SAS 63

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (14.6 here).

Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche 14.6 avg Popsockets LLC 14.6 avg Kiekert AG 14.6 avg Festo SE & Co. KG 14.6 avg

KAO'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

KAO Corporation patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	118	12.3%
2016	84	8.8%
2017	77	8.0%
2018	64	6.7%
2019	72	7.5%
2020	99	10.3%
2021	113	11.8%
2022	98	10.2%
2023	77	8.0%
2024	80	8.4%
2025partial year	75	7.8%

Which technologies does KAO Corporation patent most?

A61K - Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes 279

A61Q - Specific USE OF Cosmetics OR Similar Toiletry Preparations 233

C09D - Coating Compositions, e.g. Paints, Varnishes OR LACQUERS; Filling PASTES; Chemical Paint OR INK REMOVERS; INKS; Correcting FLUIDS; WOODSTAINS; Pastes OR Solids FOR Colouring OR PRINTING; USE OF Materials Therefor 101

C08L - Compositions OF Macromolecular Compounds 84

C11D - Detergent COMPOSITIONS; USE OF Single Substances AS DETERGENTS; Soap OR SOAP-MAKING; Resin SOAPS; Recovery OF Glycerol 82

C07C - Acyclic OR Carbocyclic Compounds 70

C12N - Microorganisms OR ENZYMES; Compositions THEREOF; Propagating, Preserving, OR Maintaining MICROORGANISMS; Mutation OR Genetic ENGINEERING; Culture Media 68

A61P - Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations 66

C08K - Use of inorganic or non-macromolecular organic substances as compounding ingredients 54

A61F - Filters Implantable Into Blood VESSELS; PROSTHESES; Devices Providing Patency TO, OR Preventing Collapsing OF, Tubular Structures OF THE Body, e.g. STENTS; Orthopaedic, Nursing OR Contraceptive DEVICES; FOMENTATION; Treatment OR Protection OF Eyes OR EARS; Bandages, Dressings OR Absorbent PADS; Firs 54

B41M - Printing, Duplicating, Marking, OR Copying PROCESSES; Colour Printing, 54

C12P - Fermentation OR Enzyme-using Processes TO Synthesise A Desired Chemical Compound OR Composition OR TO Separate Optical Isomers From A Racemic Mixture 54

A23L - Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic Beverages, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Preparation OR Treatment Thereof 51

A45D - Hairdressing OR Shaving Equipment ; Equipment FOR Cosmetics OR Cosmetic Treatments, e.g. FOR Manicuring OR Pedicuring 51

G03G - ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; Magnetography 50

Top 15 of 173 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

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

KAO Corporation's lead technology class is A61K (Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes), 29.2% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore A61K
Ranked #464 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare KAO Corporation against Ebara Corporation, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 63.5/100 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.