Where does Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC ranks #9 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 Technology Licensing, LLC hold?

Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC holds 24,392 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 278 technology areas.

What is Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC's Innovation Score?

Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC has an Innovation Score of 75.7 out of 100 (top 1% 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 Technology Licensing, LLC focus on?

Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC's top technology area is G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing) with 16,951 patents, ranking #3 of 13,878 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 278 CPC subclasses total.

Is Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC's recent grant velocity is -12% 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 Technology Licensing, LLC's patents?

Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC's patents average 19.3 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 Microsoft Technology Licensing, 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

Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 24,392 granted patents across 278 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 #9 of 49,997 US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 24,392 patents across 278 technology areas.

#9
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 1%
by Innovation Score (75.7/100): 19.3
avg claims per patent: -12%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R9 · US Corporation #9 · 24,392 grants

GRANTS-MEGA · TOP-DECILE · CLEAR-GAP · CPC-BROAD · INNOV-STRONG · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-DOWN · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MEGA 24K grants
TOP-DECILE #9/49,997
CLEAR-GAP Intel
CPC-BROAD G06F · 278 areas
INNOV-STRONG 75.7/100
CLAIMS-RICH 19.3 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DOWN -12% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Intel Corporation (±3,106 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 75.7 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 34.9 pts (46%) Velocity 4.2 pts (6%) Breadth 25.0 pts (33%) Claim depth 11.6 pts (15%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Microsoft Technology… · this assignee

76
Huawei Digital Power · near

76
Capital ONE Services · near

76
International… · near

76
Marathon Petroleum · near

76
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Microsoft's Innovation Score is 75.7/100 (top 1% 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 19.3 claims/patent is ABOVE the 16.1 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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 Technology Licensing, LLC received 10,780 grants versus 12,264 in 2015–2019 (-12% equal-window velocity, above median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2019 at 3,104 grants and bottomed in 2024 at 1,719. Lead class G06F accounts for 69.5% of the portfolio across 278 subclasses.

Microsoft's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC moved from 8,488 to 5,396 grants (0.64x 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 #2,347. See the growth leaderboard.

Samsung

106,890
International Bus…

72,926
Canon

34,378
LG

32,607
Taiwan Semiconduc…

31,041
Apple

30,560
Qualcomm Incorpor…

30,354
Intel

27,498
Microsoft Technol… ◀

24,392

What this shows Microsoft sits among the ten largest US patent holders, a tier dominated by electronics and semiconductor multinationals.

Other top-10 patent holders

The other largest US assignees by 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 #3 of 13,878 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (76 here).

Huawei Digital Power Technologies Co., Ltd. 76 Capital ONE Services, LLC 76 International Business Machines Corporation 76 Marathon Petroleum Company LP 76

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (19.3 here).

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ) 19.3 avg Ultrahaptics IP TWO Limited 19.3 avg Outdoor Wireless Networks LLC 19.3 avg S.V.V. Technology Innovations, Inc. 19.3 avg

Microsoft's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

76 Top 1% higher than 99% 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 Technology Licensing, LLC patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	1,957	8.0%
2016	2,394	9.8%
2017	2,449	10.0%
2018	2,360	9.7%
2019	3,104	12.7%
2020	2,947	12.1%
2021	2,437	10.0%
2022	1,837	7.5%
2023	1,840	7.5%
2024	1,719	7.0%
2025partial year	1,348	5.5%

Which technologies does Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC patent most?

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 16,951

H04L - Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication 7,301

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 2,990

G06N - Computing Arrangements Based ON Specific Computational Models 2,485

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 2,389

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 2,258

H04W - Wireless Communication Networks 1,768

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 1,310

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 1,164

H04M - Telephonic Communication 904

G10L - Speech Analysis Techniques OR Speech SYNTHESIS; Speech RECOGNITION; Speech OR Voice Processing TECHNIQUES; Speech OR Audio Coding OR Decoding 897

G09G - Arrangements OR Circuits FOR Control OF Indicating Devices Using Static Means TO Present Variable Information 614

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 600

A63F - Card, Board, OR Roulette GAMES; Indoor Games Using Small Moving Playing BODIES; Video GAMES; Games NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 592

G01S - Radio DIRECTION-FINDING; Radio NAVIGATION; Determining Distance OR Velocity BY USE OF Radio WAVES; Locating OR Presence-detecting BY USE OF THE Reflection OR Reradiation OF Radio WAVES; Analogous Arrangements Using Other Waves 385

Top 15 of 278 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 Technology Licensing, LLC's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC's lead technology class is G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing), 69.5% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore G06F
Ranked #9 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC is a top-10 global holder - see how it stacks up against Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., another of the largest patent portfolios. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 75.7/100 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.