Where does Nike, Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Nike, Inc. ranks #29 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 Nike, Inc. hold?

Nike, Inc. holds 10,487 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 230 technology areas.

What is Nike, Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Nike, Inc. has an Innovation Score of 69.5 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 Nike, Inc. focus on?

Nike, Inc.'s top technology area is A43B (Characteristic Features OF FOOTWEAR; Parts OF Footwear) with 2,694 patents, ranking #1 of 317 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 230 CPC subclasses total.

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

Nike, Inc.'s recent grant velocity is +25% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). The company is maintaining or growing its granted-patent output.

What does claim depth mean for Nike, Inc.'s patents?

Nike, Inc.'s patents average 8.3 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 Nike, 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 US Corporation

Nike, Inc.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 10,487 granted patents across 230 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: A43B (Characteristic Features OF FOOTWEAR; Parts OF Footwear).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Nike ranks #29 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 10,487 patents across 230 technology areas.

#29
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 1%
by Innovation Score (69.5/100): 8.3
avg claims per patent: +25%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R29 · US Corporation #29 · 10,487 grants

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

GRANTS-MEGA 10K grants
TOP-DECILE #29/49,997
CLEAR-GAP Cisco Technology
CPC-BROAD A43B · 230 areas
INNOV-STRONG 69.5/100
CLAIMS-PAR 8.3 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-UP +25% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Cisco Technology, Inc. (±188 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 Nike’s 69.5 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 32.0 pts (46%) Velocity 7.5 pts (11%) Breadth 25.0 pts (36%) Claim depth 5.0 pts (7%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
UNIVERSITÉ Paris CITÉ · near

69
AUO · near

69
President and… · near

69
ZF Automotive Germany · near

69
Nike · this assignee

69
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Nike's Innovation Score is 69.5/100 (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 Nike?

Each dot is one of Nike’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). Nike’s own 8.3 claims/patent is at or below the 14.6 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

How Nike's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, Nike, Inc. received 5,355 grants versus 4,299 in 2015–2019 (+25% equal-window velocity, above median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2023 at 1,233 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 502. Lead class A43B accounts for 25.7% of the portfolio across 230 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (#25) and Texas Instruments Incorporated (#33).

Nike's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Nike, Inc. moved from 2,999 to 3,382 grants (1.13x 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 #910. See the growth leaderboard.

Honda Motor

12,454
The Boeing

11,922
Robert Bosch

11,869
GM Global Technol…

11,736
Nike ◀

10,487
Cisco Technology

10,299
Ricoh

10,223
Dell Products

10,222
Texas Instruments…

9,915

What this shows Nike holds 10,487 patents at rank #29, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Nike

By rank, the assignees closest to #29 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in A43B (Characteristic Features OF Footwear)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Nike, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In A43B (Characteristic Features OF Footwear), Nike ranks #1 of 317 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (69 here).

President and Fellows of Harvard College 69 AUO Corporation 69 ZF Automotive Germany GmbH 69 UNIVERSITÉ Paris CITÉ 69

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (8.3 here).

Jeol Ltd. 8.3 avg Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd. 8.3 avg Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering, Ltd. 8.3 avg 3form, LLC 8.3 avg

Nike's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

69 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

Nike, Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	502	4.8%
2016	689	6.6%
2017	1,214	11.6%
2018	868	8.3%
2019	1,026	9.8%
2020	1,043	9.9%
2021	930	8.9%
2022	1,040	9.9%
2023	1,233	11.8%
2024	1,109	10.6%
2025partial year	833	7.9%

Which technologies does Nike, Inc. patent most?

A43B - Characteristic Features OF FOOTWEAR; Parts OF Footwear 2,694

A43C - Fastenings OR Attachments OF FOOTWEAR; Laces IN General 945

A63B - Apparatus FOR Physical Training, Gymnastics, Swimming, Climbing, OR FENCING; Ball GAMES; Training Equipment 843

B29D - Producing Particular Articles From Plastics OR From Substances IN A Plastic State 588

A41D - OUTERWEAR; Protective GARMENTS; Accessories 533

A43D - Machines, Tools, Equipment OR Methods FOR Manufacturing OR Repairing Footwear 527

B29C - Shaping OR Joining OF PLASTICS; Shaping OF Material IN A Plastic State, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; After-treatment OF THE Shaped Products, e.g. Repairing 468

D10B - Indexing Scheme Associated With Sublasses OF Section D, Relating TO Textiles 440

D04B - Knitting 429

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 340

A61B - DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; Identification 338

B32B - Layered Products, i.e. Products Built-up OF Strata OF Flat OR Non-flat, e.g. Cellular OR Honeycomb, Form 309

B29K - Indexing Scheme Associated With Subclasses B29b, B29c OR B29d, Relating TO Moulding Materials OR TO Materials FOR ; Moulds, ; Reinforcements, Fillers OR Preformed Parts, e.g. Inserts 299

G16H - Healthcare Informatics, i.e. Information AND Communication Technology [ICT] Specially Adapted FOR THE Handling OR Processing OF Medical OR Healthcare Data 296

B29L - Indexing Scheme Associated With Subclass B29c, Relating TO Particular Articles 295

Top 15 of 230 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

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

Nike, Inc.'s lead technology class is A43B (Characteristic Features OF FOOTWEAR; Parts OF Footwear), 25.7% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore A43B
Ranked #29 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Nike, Inc. against Honda Motor Co., Ltd., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 69.5/100 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.