Where does Nifco Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Nifco Inc. ranks #1,450 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 Nifco Inc. hold?

Nifco Inc. holds 288 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 90 technology areas.

What is Nifco Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Nifco Inc. has an Innovation Score of 52.8 out of 100 (top 10% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Nifco Inc. focus on?

Nifco Inc.'s top technology area is B60R (Vehicles, Vehicle Fittings, OR Vehicle Parts, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR) with 60 patents, ranking #75 of 1,969 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 90 CPC subclasses total.

Is Nifco Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Nifco Inc.'s recent grant velocity is -49% 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 Nifco Inc.'s patents?

Nifco Inc.'s patents average 6.8 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 Nifco Inc. 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

Nifco Inc.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 288 granted patents across 90 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: B60R (Vehicles, Vehicle Fittings, OR Vehicle Parts, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Nifco ranks #1,450 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 288 patents across 90 technology areas.

#1,450
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 10%
by Innovation Score (52.8/100): 6.8
avg claims per patent: -49%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R1450 · Foreign Corporation #1,450 · 288 grants

GRANTS-MID · TOP-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-WIDE · INNOV-PAR · CLAIMS-SPARSE · TYPE-FRNCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MID 288 grants
TOP-DECILE #1,450/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Ajou University…
CPC-WIDE B60R · 90 areas
INNOV-PAR 52.8/100
CLAIMS-SPARSE 6.8 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-DROP -49% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Ajou University Industry-academic Cooperation (±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 Nifco’s 52.8 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 19.6 pts (37%) Velocity 4.1 pts (8%) Breadth 25.0 pts (47%) Claim depth 4.1 pts (8%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Anumana · near

53
HeartWare · near

53
Nifco · this assignee

53
Nordischer Maschinen… · near

53
Yoshino Gypsum · near

53
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Nifco's Innovation Score is 52.8/100 (top 10% 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 Nifco?

Each dot is one of Nifco’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). Nifco’s own 6.8 claims/patent is at or below the 12.8 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

How Nifco's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, Nifco Inc. received 93 grants versus 184 in 2015–2019 (-49% equal-window velocity, below median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2015 at 51 grants and bottomed in 2023 at 13. Lead class B60R accounts for 20.8% of the portfolio across 90 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Ajou University Industry-academic Cooperation (#1,446) and Tyco Fire Products LP (#1,454).

Nifco's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Nifco Inc. moved from 81 to 50 grants (0.62x 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 #2,404. See the growth leaderboard.

Ajou University I…

288
Julius Blum

288
Milliken &

288
National Institut…

288
Nifco ◀

288
Alnylam Pharmaceu…

287
Carl Freudenberg…

287
EMD Millipore

287
Tyco Fire Products

287

What this shows Nifco holds 288 patents at rank #1,450, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Nifco

By rank, the assignees closest to #1,450 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in B60R (Vehicles)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Nifco, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In B60R (Vehicles), Nifco ranks #75 of 1,969 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (53 here).

HeartWare, Inc. 53 Nordischer Maschinenbau Rud. Baader GmbH & Co. KG 53 Yoshino Gypsum Co., Ltd. 53 Anumana, Inc. 53

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (6.8 here).

Hiwin Technologies Corp. 6.8 avg TGK Co., Ltd. 6.8 avg Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. 6.8 avg Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit 6.8 avg

Nifco's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

53 Top 10% higher than 90% 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

Nifco Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	51	17.7%
2016	29	10.1%
2017	23	8.0%
2018	43	14.9%
2019	38	13.2%
2020	19	6.6%
2021	24	8.3%
2022	21	7.3%
2023	13	4.5%
2024	16	5.6%
2025partial year	11	3.8%

Which technologies does Nifco Inc. patent most?

B60R - Vehicles, Vehicle Fittings, OR Vehicle Parts, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 60

F16B - Devices FOR Fastening OR Securing Constructional Elements OR Machine Parts Together, e.g. Nails, Bolts, Circlips, Clamps, Clips OR WEDGES; Joints OR Jointing 56

B60K - Arrangement OR Mounting OF Propulsion Units OR OF Transmissions IN VEHICLES; Arrangement OR Mounting OF Plural Diverse Prime-movers IN VEHICLES; Auxiliary Drives FOR VEHICLES; Instrumentation OR Dashboards FOR VEHICLES; Arrangements IN Connection With Cooling, AIR Intake, GAS Exhaust OR Fuel Supply 47

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 36

B60N - Seats Specially Adapted FOR VEHICLES; Vehicle Passenger Accommodation NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 34

F16L - PIPES; Joints OR Fittings FOR PIPES; Supports FOR Pipes, Cables OR Protective TUBING; Means FOR Thermal Insulation IN General 28

F02M - Supplying Combustion Engines IN General With Combustible Mixtures OR Constituents Thereof 22

F16K - VALVES; TAPS; COCKS; ACTUATING-FLOATS; Devices FOR Venting OR Aerating 21

F16F - SPRINGS; SHOCK-ABSORBERS; Means FOR Damping Vibration 19

F16J - Pistons ; CYLINDERS; Sealings 17

E05B - LOCKS; Accessories THEREFOR; Handcuffs 16

E05C - Bolts OR Fastening Devices FOR Wings, Specially FOR Doors OR Windows 13

B62D - Motor VEHICLES; Trailers 12

E05F - Devices FOR Moving Wings Into Open OR Closed POSITION; Checks FOR WINGS; Wing Fittings NOT Otherwise Provided FOR, Concerned With THE Functioning OF THE Wing 11

E05Y - Indexing Scheme Associated With Subclasses E05d AND E05f, Relating TO Construction Elements, Electric Control, Power Supply, Power Signal OR Transmission, User Interfaces, Mounting OR Coupling, Details, Accessories, Auxiliary Operations NOT Otherwise Provided FOR, Application Thereof 10

Top 15 of 90 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

Nifco Inc.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Nifco Inc.'s lead technology class is B60R (Vehicles, Vehicle Fittings, OR Vehicle Parts, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR), 20.8% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore B60R
Ranked #1,450 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Nifco Inc. against Ajou University Industry-academic Cooperation, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 52.8/100 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.