Where does Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. ranks #9,318 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 Sharp & Dohme B.V. hold?

Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. holds 34 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2024, spanning 23 technology areas.

What is Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V.'s Innovation Score?

Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. has an Innovation Score of 39.4 out of 100 (top 38% 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 Sharp & Dohme B.V. focus on?

Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V.'s top technology area is A61P (Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations) with 23 patents, ranking #848 of 6,058 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 23 CPC subclasses total.

Is Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V.'s recent grant velocity is -64% 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 Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V.'s patents?

Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V.'s patents average 15.8 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 Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. 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 Sharp & Dohme B.V.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 34 granted patents across 23 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2015–2024. 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: A61P (Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Merck ranks #9,318 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 34 patents across 23 technology areas.

#9,318
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 38%
by Innovation Score (39.4/100): 15.8
avg claims per patent: -64%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R9318 · Foreign Corporation #9,318 · 34 grants

GRANTS-SMALL · UPPER-Q · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-THIN · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-FRNCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-SMALL 34 grants
UPPER-Q #9,318/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Lund
CPC-FOCUS A61P · 23 areas
INNOV-THIN 39.4/100
CLAIMS-RICH 15.8 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-DROP -64% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Lund, Inc. (±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 39.4 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 12.3 pts (31%) Velocity 0.7 pts (2%) Breadth 17.0 pts (43%) Claim depth 9.5 pts (24%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
D & D Group PTY · near

39
Rethink Robotics · near

39
Curis · near

39
Hiperwall · near

39
Merck Sharp & Dohme… · this assignee

39
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Merck's Innovation Score is 39.4/100 (top 38% 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 15.8 claims/patent is at or below the 17.8 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 Sharp & Dohme B.V. is a focused PatentsView assignee: 23 CPC subclasses with 67.6% of grants classified under A61P (Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations). Peak complete grant year is 2015 (10 grants) versus a trough of 1 in 2024. By volume, Merck sits between Lund, Inc. and Mold-masters (2007) Limited.

Merck's three-year grant acceleration

Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. shows 1 grants in 2022–2024 against only 10 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.

Lund

34
Lutonix

34
Lytro

34
Magnacom

34
Mianyang HKC Opto…

34
Mikuni Electron

34
Mobiletron

34
Mold-masters (200…

34
Merck Sharp & Doh… ◀

34

What this shows Merck holds 34 patents at rank #9,313, 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 #9,313 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in A61P (Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Me…)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Merck, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In A61P (Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Me…), Merck ranks #848 of 6,058 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (39 here).

Curis, Inc. 39 Hiperwall, Inc. 39 D & D Group PTY Ltd 39 Rethink Robotics GmbH 39

Merck's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

39 Top 38% higher than 62% 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 · 2015–2024

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2015–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	10	29.4%
2016	2	5.9%
2017	7	20.6%
2018	4	11.8%
2019	2	5.9%
2020	2	5.9%
2021	6	17.6%
2024	1	2.9%

Which technologies does Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. patent most?

A61P - Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations 23

C07D - Heterocyclic Compounds 19

A61K - Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes 19

Y02A - Technologies FOR Adaptation TO Climate Change 9

C07K - Peptides 5

A61M - Devices FOR Introducing Media Into, OR Onto, THE Body ; Devices FOR Transducing Body Media OR FOR Taking Media From THE Body ; Devices FOR Producing OR Ending Sleep OR Stupor 4

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 4

G01N - Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties 3

A61L - Methods OR Apparatus FOR Sterilising Materials OR Objects IN GENERAL; Disinfection, Sterilisation OR Deodorisation OF AIR; Chemical Aspects OF Bandages, Dressings, Absorbent Pads OR Surgical ARTICLES; Materials FOR Bandages, Dressings, Absorbent Pads OR Surgical Articles 2

C07B - General Methods OF Organic CHEMISTRY; Apparatus Therefor 1

C07J - Steroids 1

H01R - Electrically-conductive CONNECTIONS; Structural Associations OF A Plurality OF Mutually-insulated Electrical Connecting ELEMENTS; Coupling DEVICES; Current Collectors 1

A01K - Animal HUSBANDRY; AVICULTURE; APICULTURE; PISCICULTURE; FISHING; Rearing OR Breeding Animals, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; NEW Breeds OF Animals 1

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 1

B29L - Indexing Scheme Associated With Subclass B29c, Relating TO Particular Articles 1

Top 15 of 23 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 Sharp & Dohme B.V.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V.'s lead technology class is A61P (Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations), 67.6% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore A61P
Ranked #9,318 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. against Lund, Inc., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 39.4/100 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.