Where does Kla-tencor Corporation rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Kla-tencor Corporation ranks #371 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 Kla-tencor Corporation hold?

Kla-tencor Corporation holds 1,173 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 84 technology areas.

What is Kla-tencor Corporation's Innovation Score?

Kla-tencor Corporation has an Innovation Score of 64.1 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 Kla-tencor Corporation focus on?

Kla-tencor Corporation's top technology area is G01N (Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties) with 583 patents, ranking #7 of 7,863 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 84 CPC subclasses total.

Is Kla-tencor Corporation's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Kla-tencor Corporation's recent grant velocity is -71% 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 Kla-tencor Corporation's patents?

Kla-tencor Corporation's patents average 23.4 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 Kla-tencor 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

Kla-tencor Corporation

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 1,173 granted patents across 84 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: G01N (Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Kla-tencor ranks #371 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 1,173 patents across 84 technology areas.

#371
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 2%
by Innovation Score (64.1/100): 23.4
avg claims per patent: -71%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R371 · US Corporation #371 · 1,173 grants

GRANTS-LARGE · TOP-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-WIDE · INNOV-STRONG · CLAIMS-DENSE · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-LARGE 1.2K grants
TOP-DECILE #371/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Smith & Nephew
CPC-WIDE G01N · 84 areas
INNOV-STRONG 64.1/100
CLAIMS-DENSE 23.4 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DROP -71% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Smith & Nephew, Inc. (±1 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 Kla-tencor’s 64.1 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 24.4 pts (38%) Velocity 0.6 pts (1%) Breadth 25.0 pts (39%) Claim depth 14.0 pts (22%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Asustek Computer · near

64
Kla-tencor · this assignee

64
Inventio · near

64
Keysight · near

64
Lone Gull Holdings · near

64
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Kla-tencor's Innovation Score is 64.1/100 (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 Kla-tencor?

Each dot is one of Kla-tencor’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). Kla-tencor’s own 23.4 claims/patent is ABOVE the 15.2 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

How Kla-tencor's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, Kla-tencor Corporation received 260 grants versus 911 in 2015–2019 (-71% equal-window velocity, below median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2019 at 235 grants and bottomed in 2024 at 4. Lead class G01N accounts for 49.7% of the portfolio across 84 subclasses. Volume neighbours: UOP LLC (#367) and Syngenta Participations AG (#375).

Kla-tencor's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Kla-tencor Corporation moved from 452 to 43 grants (0.10x 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 #3,182. See the growth leaderboard.

UOP

1,188
Vestas Wind Syste…

1,179
Cardiac Pacemakers

1,178
Karsten Manufactu…

1,177
Kla-tencor ◀

1,173
Smith & Nephew

1,172
Quanta Computer

1,171
Volvo Truck

1,171
Syngenta Particip…

1,167

What this shows Kla-tencor holds 1,173 patents at rank #371, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Kla-tencor

By rank, the assignees closest to #371 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in G01N (Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their…)

Other assignees with the most granted patents in Kla-tencor's primary technology class.

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Kla-tencor, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In G01N (Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their…), Kla-tencor ranks #7 of 7,863 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (64 here).

Asustek Computer Inc. 64 Inventio AG 64 Keysight Technologies, Inc. 64 Lone Gull Holdings, Ltd. 64

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (23.4 here).

Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products LP 23.4 avg Insightec Ltd. 23.4 avg Purdue Pharma L.P. 23.4 avg Rijk Zwaan Zaadteelt EN Zaadhandel B.V. 23.4 avg

Kla-tencor's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

64 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

Kla-tencor Corporation patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	142	12.1%
2016	166	14.2%
2017	194	16.5%
2018	174	14.8%
2019	235	20.0%
2020	162	13.8%
2021	55	4.7%
2022	32	2.7%
2023	7	0.6%
2024	4	0.3%
2025partial year	2	0.2%

Which technologies does Kla-tencor Corporation patent most?

G01N - Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties 583

G03F - Photomechanical Production OF Textured OR Patterned Surfaces, e.g. FOR Printing, FOR Processing OF Semiconductor DEVICES; Materials THEREFOR; Originals THEREFOR; Apparatus Specially Adapted THEREFOR; 379

H01L - Semiconductor Devices NOT Covered BY Class H10 300

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 257

G01B - Measuring Length, Thickness OR Similar Linear DIMENSIONS; Measuring ANGLES; Measuring AREAS; Measuring Irregularities OF Surfaces OR Contours 230

H01J - Electric Discharge Tubes OR Discharge Lamps 181

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 129

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 120

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 53

G01J - Measurement OF Intensity, Velocity, Spectral Content, Polarisation, Phase OR Pulse Characteristics OF Infrared, Visible OR Ultraviolet LIGHT; COLORIMETRY; Radiation Pyrometry 49

H01S - Devices Using THE Process OF Light Amplification BY Stimulated Emission OF Radiation [LASER] TO Amplify OR Generate LIGHT; Devices Using Stimulated Emission OF Electromagnetic Radiation IN Wave Ranges Other Than Optical 44

G02F - Optical Devices OR Arrangements FOR THE Control OF Light BY Modification OF THE Optical Properties OF THE Media OF THE Elements Involved THEREIN; Non-linear OPTICS; Frequency-changing OF LIGHT; Optical Logic ELEMENTS; Optical ANALOGUE/DIGITAL Converters 42

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 41

G05B - Control OR Regulating Systems IN GENERAL; Functional Elements OF Such SYSTEMS; Monitoring OR Testing Arrangements FOR Such Systems OR Elements 41

G06N - Computing Arrangements Based ON Specific Computational Models 40

Top 15 of 84 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

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

Kla-tencor Corporation's lead technology class is G01N (Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties), 49.7% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore G01N
Ranked #371 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Kla-tencor Corporation against UOP LLC, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 64.1/100 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.