Where does Nikon Corporation rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Nikon Corporation ranks #165 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 Nikon Corporation hold?

Nikon Corporation holds 2,316 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 171 technology areas.

What is Nikon Corporation's Innovation Score?

Nikon Corporation has an Innovation Score of 67.9 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 Nikon Corporation focus on?

Nikon Corporation's top technology area is G02B (Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus) with 777 patents, ranking #17 of 4,891 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 171 CPC subclasses total.

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

Nikon Corporation's recent grant velocity is -35% 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 Nikon Corporation's patents?

Nikon Corporation's patents average 20.0 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 Nikon 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 Foreign Corporation

Nikon Corporation

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 2,316 granted patents across 171 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: G02B (Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Nikon ranks #165 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 2,316 patents across 171 technology areas.

#165
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 1%
by Innovation Score (67.9/100): 20.0
avg claims per patent: -35%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R165 · Foreign Corporation #165 · 2,316 grants

GRANTS-LARGE · TOP-DECILE · NEAR-PEER · CPC-WIDE · INNOV-STRONG · CLAIMS-DENSE · TYPE-FRNCORP · VEL-DOWN · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-LARGE 2.3K grants
TOP-DECILE #165/49,997
NEAR-PEER Eaton Intelligent…
CPC-WIDE G02B · 171 areas
INNOV-STRONG 67.9/100
CLAIMS-DENSE 20.0 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-DOWN -35% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited (±8 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 Nikon’s 67.9 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 26.8 pts (39%) Velocity 4.1 pts (6%) Breadth 25.0 pts (37%) Claim depth 12.0 pts (18%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Advanced Semiconduct… · near

68
L'Oreal · near

68
Alipay (Hangzhou)… · near

68
Nikon · this assignee

68
Ascend Performance… · near

68
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Nikon's Innovation Score is 67.9/100 (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 Nikon?

Each dot is one of Nikon’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). Nikon’s own 20.0 claims/patent is ABOVE the 16.9 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

How Nikon's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, Nikon Corporation received 862 grants versus 1,335 in 2015–2019 (-35% equal-window velocity, below median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2015 at 293 grants and bottomed in 2023 at 133. Lead class G02B accounts for 33.5% of the portfolio across 171 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Chengdu BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. (#161) and Alibaba Group Holding Limited (#169).

Nikon's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Nikon Corporation moved from 708 to 434 grants (0.61x 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 #2,413. See the growth leaderboard.

Chengdu BOE Optoe…

2,399
Lenovo (Singapore…

2,375
ebay

2,351
Siemens Healthcare

2,329
Nikon ◀

2,316
Eaton Intelligent…

2,308
Volkswagen Aktien…

2,307
State Farm Mutual…

2,305
Alibaba Group Hol…

2,299

What this shows Nikon holds 2,316 patents at rank #165, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Nikon

By rank, the assignees closest to #165 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in G02B (Optical Elements)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Nikon, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In G02B (Optical Elements), Nikon ranks #17 of 4,891 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (68 here).

Alipay (Hangzhou) Information Technology Co., Ltd. 68 Ascend Performance Materials Operations LLC 68 L'Oreal 68 Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc. 68

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (20.0 here).

Intel Corporation 20.0 avg Agrigenics Inc. 20.0 avg Divx, LLC 20.0 avg Joy MM Delaware, Inc. 20.0 avg

Nikon's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

68 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

Nikon Corporation patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	293	12.7%
2016	242	10.4%
2017	260	11.2%
2018	260	11.2%
2019	280	12.1%
2020	245	10.6%
2021	183	7.9%
2022	149	6.4%
2023	133	5.7%
2024	152	6.6%
2025partial year	119	5.1%

Which technologies does Nikon Corporation patent most?

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 777

G03F - Photomechanical Production OF Textured OR Patterned Surfaces, e.g. FOR Printing, FOR Processing OF Semiconductor DEVICES; Materials THEREFOR; Originals THEREFOR; Apparatus Specially Adapted THEREFOR; 674

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 586

G03B - Apparatus OR Arrangements FOR Taking Photographs OR FOR Projecting OR Viewing THEM; Apparatus OR Arrangements Employing Analogous Techniques Using Waves Other Than Optical WAVES; Accessories Therefor 303

H10F - Inorganic Semiconductor Devices Sensitive TO Infrared Radiation, Light, Electromagnetic Radiation OF Shorter Wavelength OR Corpuscular Radiation 198

H01L - Semiconductor Devices NOT Covered BY Class H10 197

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 165

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 164

G01B - Measuring Length, Thickness OR Similar Linear DIMENSIONS; Measuring ANGLES; Measuring AREAS; Measuring Irregularities OF Surfaces OR Contours 152

G01N - Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties 151

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 91

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 79

G01D - Measuring NOT Specially Adapted FOR A Specific VARIABLE; Arrangements FOR Measuring TWO OR More Variables NOT Covered IN A Single Other SUBCLASS; Tariff Metering APPARATUS; Measuring OR Testing NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 63

A61B - DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; Identification 63

G02F - Optical Devices OR Arrangements FOR THE Control OF Light BY Modification OF THE Optical Properties OF THE Media OF THE Elements Involved THEREIN; Non-linear OPTICS; Frequency-changing OF LIGHT; Optical Logic ELEMENTS; Optical ANALOGUE/DIGITAL Converters 50

Top 15 of 171 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

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

Nikon Corporation's lead technology class is G02B (Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus), 33.5% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore G02B
Ranked #165 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Nikon Corporation against Chengdu BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 67.9/100 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.