Where does Merck Kgaa rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Merck Kgaa ranks #18,891 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 Merck Kgaa hold?

Merck Kgaa holds 15 US utility patents granted between 2018 and 2025, spanning 8 technology areas.

What is Merck Kgaa's Innovation Score?

Merck Kgaa has an Innovation Score of 38.0 out of 100 (top 42% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Merck Kgaa focus on?

Merck Kgaa's top technology area is H10K (Organic Electric Solid-state Devices) with 5 patents, ranking #292 of 791 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 8 CPC subclasses total.

Is Merck Kgaa's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Merck Kgaa's recent grant velocity is +1200% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). This indicates accelerating grant output.

What does claim depth mean for Merck Kgaa's patents?

Merck Kgaa's patents average 5.7 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 Merck 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

Merck Kgaa

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 15 granted patents across 8 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2018–2025. 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: H10K (Organic Electric Solid-state Devices).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Merck ranks #18,891 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 15 patents across 8 technology areas.

#18,891
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 42%
by Innovation Score (38.0/100): 5.7
avg claims per patent: +1200%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R18891 · Foreign Corporation #18,891 · 15 grants

GRANTS-MICRO · MID-PACK · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-NARROW · INNOV-THIN · CLAIMS-SPARSE · TYPE-FRNCORP · VEL-SURGE · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MICRO 15 grants
MID-PACK #18,891/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Mayser
CPC-NARROW H10K · 8 areas
INNOV-THIN 38.0/100
CLAIMS-SPARSE 5.7 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-SURGE +1200% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Mayser, 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 Merck’s 38.0 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 9.6 pts (25%) Velocity 15.0 pts (39%) Breadth 10.0 pts (26%) Claim depth 3.4 pts (9%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Merck Kgaa · this assignee

38
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Merck's Innovation Score is 38.0/100 (top 42% 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 Merck?

Each dot is one of Merck’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). Merck’s own 5.7 claims/patent is at or below the 11.6 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

Where Merck's grants concentrate

Merck Kgaa is a focused PatentsView assignee: 8 CPC subclasses with 33.3% of grants classified under H10K (Organic Electric Solid-state Devices). Peak complete grant year is 2022 (4 grants) versus a trough of 1 in 2018. By volume, Merck sits between Mayser, LLC and Microbial Discovery Group, LLC.

Merck's three-year grant acceleration

Merck Kgaa shows 9 grants in 2022–2024 against only 4 in 2019–2021. That prior window is too thin for a growth multiple (rename and spin-out assignees look artificially high when the baseline is near zero), so PlainPatent withholds a ranked acceleration claim here.

Mayser

15
Mechanix Wear

15
Medasense Biometr…

15
Megmilk Snow Brand

15
Mertek Industries

15
Metgen OY

15
Michael HÖRAUF Ma…

15
Microbial Discove…

15
Merck Kgaa ◀

15

What this shows Merck holds 15 patents at rank #18,875, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Merck

By rank, the assignees closest to #18,875 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in H10K (Organic Electric Solid-state Devices)

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

Merck's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

38 Top 42% higher than 58% 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 · 2018–2025

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2018–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

Merck Kgaa patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2018	1	6.7%
2020	3	20.0%
2021	1	6.7%
2022	4	26.7%
2023	2	13.3%
2024	3	20.0%
2025partial year	1	6.7%

Which technologies does Merck Kgaa patent most?

H10K - Organic Electric Solid-state Devices 5

C07D - Heterocyclic Compounds 4

C09K - Materials FOR Miscellaneous Applications, NOT Provided FOR Elsewhere 3

Y02E - Reduction OF Greenhouse GAS [GHG] Emissions, Related TO Energy Generation, Transmission OR Distribution 2

C07F - Acyclic, Carbocyclic OR Heterocyclic Compounds Containing Elements Other Than Carbon, Hydrogen, Halogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Sulfur, Selenium OR Tellurium 1

C07B - General Methods OF Organic CHEMISTRY; Apparatus Therefor 1

C07C - Acyclic OR Carbocyclic Compounds 1

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 1

Top 8 of 8 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

Merck Kgaa's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Merck Kgaa's lead technology class is H10K (Organic Electric Solid-state Devices), 33.3% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore H10K
Ranked #18,891 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Merck Kgaa against Mayser, LLC, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 38.0/100 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.