Where does Microsoft Corporation rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Microsoft Corporation ranks #215 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 Microsoft Corporation hold?

Microsoft Corporation holds 1,880 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 55 technology areas.

What is Microsoft Corporation's Innovation Score?

Microsoft Corporation has an Innovation Score of 60.4 out of 100 (top 3% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Microsoft Corporation focus on?

Microsoft Corporation's top technology area is G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing) with 330 patents, ranking #204 of 13,878 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 55 CPC subclasses total.

Is Microsoft Corporation's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Microsoft Corporation's recent grant velocity is -89% 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 Microsoft Corporation's patents?

Microsoft Corporation'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 Microsoft 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

Microsoft Corporation

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 1,880 granted patents across 55 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: G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Microsoft ranks #215 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 1,880 patents across 55 technology areas.

#215
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 3%
by Innovation Score (60.4/100): 5.7
avg claims per patent: -89%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R215 · US Corporation #215 · 1,880 grants

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

GRANTS-LARGE 1.9K grants
TOP-DECILE #215/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Tsinghua University
CPC-WIDE G06F · 55 areas
INNOV-STRONG 60.4/100
CLAIMS-SPARSE 5.7 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DROP -89% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Tsinghua University (±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 Microsoft’s 60.4 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 26.0 pts (43%) Velocity 6.0 pts (10%) Breadth 25.0 pts (41%) Claim depth 3.4 pts (6%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Teijin Automotive · near

60
Microsoft · this assignee

60
University of… · near

60
Verity · near

60
Carl Zeiss Vision… · near

60
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Microsoft's Innovation Score is 60.4/100 (top 3% 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 Microsoft?

Each dot is one of Microsoft’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). Microsoft’s own 5.7 claims/patent is at or below the 16.7 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

How Microsoft's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, Microsoft Corporation received 191 grants versus 1,673 in 2015–2019 (-89% equal-window velocity, below median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2015 at 772 grants and bottomed in 2022 at 33. Lead class G06F accounts for 17.6% of the portfolio across 55 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Waymo LLC (#211) and California Institute OF Technology (#219).

Microsoft's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Microsoft Corporation moved from 124 to 111 grants (0.90x 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 #1,493. See the growth leaderboard.

Waymo

1,901
Bridgestone

1,895
L'oreal

1,890
Tsinghua Universi…

1,881
Microsoft ◀

1,880
Splunk

1,859
Compagnie General…

1,844
The Nielsen (US)

1,844
California Instit…

1,842

What this shows Microsoft holds 1,880 patents at rank #215, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Microsoft

By rank, the assignees closest to #215 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Microsoft, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing), Microsoft ranks #204 of 13,878 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (60 here).

University of Shanghai for Science and Technology 60 Verity AG 60 Carl Zeiss Vision International GmbH 60 Teijin Automotive Technologies, Inc. 60

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (5.7 here).

Keihin Corporation 5.7 avg Hong ANN Tool Industries Co., Ltd. 5.7 avg Iseki & Co., Ltd. 5.7 avg Sami Labs Limited 5.7 avg

Microsoft's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

60 Top 3% higher than 97% 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

Microsoft Corporation patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	772	41.1%
2016	525	27.9%
2017	270	14.4%
2018	62	3.3%
2019	44	2.3%
2020	45	2.4%
2021	35	1.9%
2022	33	1.8%
2023	33	1.8%
2024	45	2.4%
2025partial year	16	0.9%

Which technologies does Microsoft Corporation patent most?

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 330

H04L - Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication 136

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 44

H04W - Wireless Communication Networks 39

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 39

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 36

H04M - Telephonic Communication 24

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 18

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 15

G10L - Speech Analysis Techniques OR Speech SYNTHESIS; Speech RECOGNITION; Speech OR Voice Processing TECHNIQUES; Speech OR Audio Coding OR Decoding 12

G09G - Arrangements OR Circuits FOR Control OF Indicating Devices Using Static Means TO Present Variable Information 11

G06N - Computing Arrangements Based ON Specific Computational Models 11

A63F - Card, Board, OR Roulette GAMES; Indoor Games Using Small Moving Playing BODIES; Video GAMES; Games NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 11

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 7

H04B - Transmission 7

Top 15 of 55 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

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

Microsoft Corporation's lead technology class is G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing), 17.6% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore G06F
Ranked #215 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Microsoft Corporation against Waymo LLC, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 60.4/100 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.