Where does Level 3 Communications, LLC rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Level 3 Communications, LLC ranks #477 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 Level 3 Communications, LLC hold?

Level 3 Communications, LLC holds 928 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 29 technology areas.

What is Level 3 Communications, LLC's Innovation Score?

Level 3 Communications, LLC has an Innovation Score of 58.1 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%).

What technology areas does Level 3 Communications, LLC focus on?

Level 3 Communications, LLC's top technology area is H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication) with 821 patents, ranking #60 of 8,956 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 29 CPC subclasses total.

Is Level 3 Communications, LLC's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Level 3 Communications, LLC's recent grant velocity is +22% 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 Level 3 Communications, LLC's patents?

Level 3 Communications, LLC's patents average 17.6 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 Level 3 Communications, LLC 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

Level 3 Communications, LLC

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 928 granted patents across 29 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: H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Level ranks #477 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 928 patents across 29 technology areas.

#477
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 5%
by Innovation Score (58.1/100): 17.6
avg claims per patent: +22%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R477 · US Corporation #477 · 928 grants

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

GRANTS-MID 928 grants
TOP-DECILE #477/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH IHI
CPC-FOCUS H04L · 29 areas
INNOV-PAR 58.1/100
CLAIMS-RICH 17.6 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-UP +22% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: IHI Corporation (±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 Level’s 58.1 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 23.6 pts (41%) Velocity 4.9 pts (8%) Breadth 19.0 pts (33%) Claim depth 10.6 pts (18%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Board of Trustees… · near

58
Level 3 Communications · this assignee

58
Skywave Networks · near

58
VKR Holding A/S · near

58
Owens-Brockway… · near

58
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Level's Innovation Score is 58.1/100 (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 Level?

Each dot is one of Level’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). Level’s own 17.6 claims/patent is ABOVE the 14.0 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

Where Level's grants concentrate

Level 3 Communications, LLC is a focused PatentsView assignee: 29 CPC subclasses with 88.5% of grants classified under H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication). Peak complete grant year is 2020 (143 grants) versus a trough of 47 in 2015. By volume, Level sits between Fujikura Ltd. and Baidu USA LLC.

Level's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Level 3 Communications, LLC moved from 335 to 248 grants (0.74x 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 #2,015. See the growth leaderboard.

Fujikura

933
Wacom

933
Lumileds

930
IHI

928
Level 3 Communica… ◀

928
Verily Life Scien…

926
Zeon

926
Eaton

924
Baidu USA

922

What this shows Level holds 928 patents at rank #477, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Level

By rank, the assignees closest to #477 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Level, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information), Level ranks #60 of 8,956 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (58 here).

VKR Holding A/S 58 Skywave Networks LLC 58 Owens-Brockway Glass Container Inc. 58 Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas 58

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (17.6 here).

GlobalFoundries Singapore Pte. Ltd. 17.6 avg The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania 17.6 avg Amadeus S.A.S. 17.6 avg Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. 17.6 avg

Level's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

58 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

Level 3 Communications, LLC patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	47	5.1%
2016	47	5.1%
2017	124	13.4%
2018	73	7.9%
2019	102	11.0%
2020	143	15.4%
2021	90	9.7%
2022	76	8.2%
2023	91	9.8%
2024	81	8.7%
2025partial year	54	5.8%

Which technologies does Level 3 Communications, LLC patent most?

H04L - Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication 821

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 185

H04M - Telephonic Communication 107

H04W - Wireless Communication Networks 99

H04Q - Selecting 54

G06Q - Information AND Communication Technology [ICT] Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory PURPOSES; Systems OR Methods Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory Purposes, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 51

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 38

H04B - Transmission 34

H04J - Multiplex Communication 33

G06N - Computing Arrangements Based ON Specific Computational Models 24

Y02D - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies IN Information AND Communication Technologies [ICT], I.E. Information AND Communication Technologies Aiming AT THE Reduction OF Their OWN Energy USE 13

H05K - Printed CIRCUITS; Casings OR Constructional Details OF Electric APPARATUS; Manufacture OF Assemblages OF Electrical Components 8

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 7

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 7

G01R - Measuring Electric VARIABLES; Measuring Magnetic Variables 4

Top 15 of 29 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

Level 3 Communications, LLC's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Level 3 Communications, LLC's lead technology class is H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication), 88.5% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore H04L
Ranked #477 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Level 3 Communications, LLC against Fujikura Ltd., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 58.1/100 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.