Where does Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC ranks #344 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 LLC hold?

Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC holds 1,248 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 66 technology areas.

What is Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC's Innovation Score?

Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC has an Innovation Score of 62.6 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 Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC focus on?

Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC's top technology area is A61P (Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations) with 889 patents, ranking #3 of 6,058 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 66 CPC subclasses total.

Is Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC's recent grant velocity is -50% 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 LLC's patents?

Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC's patents average 15.3 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 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

Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 1,248 granted patents across 66 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: A61P (Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Merck ranks #344 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 1,248 patents across 66 technology areas.

#344
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 2%
by Innovation Score (62.6/100): 15.3
avg claims per patent: -50%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R344 · US Corporation #344 · 1,248 grants

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

GRANTS-LARGE 1.2K grants
TOP-DECILE #344/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Empire Technology…
CPC-WIDE A61P · 66 areas
INNOV-STRONG 62.6/100
CLAIMS-RICH 15.3 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DROP -50% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Empire Technology Development 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 62.6 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 24.6 pts (39%) Velocity 3.8 pts (6%) Breadth 25.0 pts (40%) Claim depth 9.2 pts (15%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Dai Nippon Printing · near

63
Board OF Regents OF… · near

63
Merck Sharp & Dohme · this assignee

63
Sram · near

63
Sumitomo Rubber… · near

63
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Merck's Innovation Score is 62.6/100 (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 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 15.3 claims/patent is at or below the 17.6 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.

How Merck's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC received 396 grants versus 794 in 2015–2019 (-50% equal-window velocity, below median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2017 at 188 grants and bottomed in 2023 at 51. Lead class A61P accounts for 71.2% of the portfolio across 66 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (#340) and Philip Morris Products S.A. (#348).

Merck's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC moved from 334 to 191 grants (0.57x 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 #2,517. See the growth leaderboard.

Edwards Lifescien…

1,265
The Trustees of t…

1,264
Terumo

1,250
Empire Technology…

1,248
Merck Sharp & Doh… ◀

1,248
Synopsys

1,245
Symantec

1,244
FCA US

1,243
Philip Morris Pro…

1,240

What this shows Merck holds 1,248 patents at rank #344, 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 #344 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 #3 of 6,058 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (63 here).

Sram, LLC 63 Board OF Regents OF THE University OF Nebraska 63 Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. 63 Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. 63

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (15.3 here).

Eaton Corporation 15.3 avg St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Inc. 15.3 avg Interroll Holding AG 15.3 avg Otto Bock Healthcare Products GmbH 15.3 avg

Merck'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

Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	153	12.3%
2016	173	13.9%
2017	188	15.1%
2018	151	12.1%
2019	129	10.3%
2020	103	8.3%
2021	102	8.2%
2022	71	5.7%
2023	51	4.1%
2024	69	5.5%
2025partial year	58	4.6%

Which technologies does Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC patent most?

A61P - Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations 889

C07D - Heterocyclic Compounds 805

A61K - Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes 760

C07K - Peptides 220

Y02A - Technologies FOR Adaptation TO Climate Change 85

C12N - Microorganisms OR ENZYMES; Compositions THEREOF; Propagating, Preserving, OR Maintaining MICROORGANISMS; Mutation OR Genetic ENGINEERING; Culture Media 80

C07F - Acyclic, Carbocyclic OR Heterocyclic Compounds Containing Elements Other Than Carbon, Hydrogen, Halogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Sulfur, Selenium OR Tellurium 73

C07C - Acyclic OR Carbocyclic Compounds 64

C07B - General Methods OF Organic CHEMISTRY; Apparatus Therefor 54

C07H - SUGARS; Derivatives THEREOF; NUCLEOSIDES; NUCLEOTIDES; Nucleic Acids 49

G01N - Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties 43

C12P - Fermentation OR Enzyme-using Processes TO Synthesise A Desired Chemical Compound OR Composition OR TO Separate Optical Isomers From A Racemic Mixture 37

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 26

C12Q - Measuring OR Testing Processes Involving Enzymes, Nucleic Acids OR Microorganisms ; Compositions OR Test Papers THEREFOR; Processes OF Preparing Such COMPOSITIONS; Condition-responsive Control IN Microbiological OR Enzymological Processes 19

Y02P - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies IN THE Production OR Processing OF Goods 17

Top 15 of 66 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 LLC's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC's lead technology class is A61P (Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations), 71.2% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore A61P
Ranked #344 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC against Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 62.6/100 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.