USPTO 2015–2025 USPTO PatentsView Foreign Corporation

Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 159 granted patents across 69 technology areas, active 2015–2025. Filing-trend and competitive-moat analysis cross-referenced to USPTO Patent Public Search. Primary class: B23K (SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM).

Compiled byPlainPatent Editorial, US Patent Intelligence Editorial Team · May 15, 2026

Explore the portfolio See the ranking

159

Total patents granted

CPC technology areas

8.3

Avg claims per patent

-15%

5-year filing velocity

The verdict

Nippon holds 159 US patents across 69 technology areas, rank #2,461 of 50,000 tracked assignees.

#2,461
of 50,000 US assignees by volume: Top 8%
by Innovation Score (54.5/100): 8.3
avg claims per patent: -15%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs

Portfolio overview

Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd. has been granted 159 US utility patents between 2015 and 2025, placing Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd. at rank #2,461 across all assignees tracked by PlainPatent. This portfolio spans 69 distinct Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) subclasses, averaging 8.3 claims per patent with primary concentration in B23K (SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM). As a Foreign Corporation, Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd. is one of the broader-portfolio assignees in the PatentsView dataset. By volume, Nippon sits between Insulet Corporation (159 patents, rank #2,457) and THE GLAD Products Company (159 patents, rank #2,465) - the closest US assignees by grant volume. The composite Innovation Score of 54.5/100 blends portfolio volume, filing velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth into a single comparable measure drawn directly from USPTO PatentsView records.

Filing cadence tells the strategic story. Between 2020 and 2025 the company received 73 grants, compared with 86 in the 2015–2019 window, a -15% shift in five-year velocity. A cooling filing rate may reflect portfolio consolidation, shifting priorities, or reduced R&D throughput. The Foreign Corporation classification further shapes interpretation, since corporate, government, and individual filers pursue patents for materially different reasons.

Claim depth and technology breadth together indicate competitive posture. Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd.'s 8.3 average claims per patent suggests focused, narrowly drawn claims typical of single-invention filings, while a multi-domain presence across 69 subclasses balances depth with breadth. Combined with portfolio volume, these signals let analysts, investors, and licensing professionals benchmark Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd. against peers pursuing similar technology classes.

Insulet

159
Keter Plastic

159
LG Household & He…

159
National SUN Yat-…

159
Shenzhen Xpectvis…

159
Sonicwall

159
Simmonds Precisio…

159
THE GLAD Products

159
Nippon Light Metal ◀

159

What this shows Nippon holds 159 patents at rank #2,461, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Nippon

By rank, the assignees closest to #2,461 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in B23K (Soldering OR Unsoldering)

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

Nippon's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

55 Top 8% higher than 92% of 50,000 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

Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	16	10.1%
2016	14	8.8%
2017	25	15.7%
2018	13	8.2%
2019	18	11.3%
2020	6	3.8%
2021	12	7.5%
2022	12	7.5%
2023	15	9.4%
2024	11	6.9%
2025	17	10.7%

Which technologies does Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd. patent most?

B23K - SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM 48

C22C - ALLOYS 43

C22F - CHANGING THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF NON-FERROUS METALS AND NON-FERROUS ALLOYS 30

B22D - CASTING OF METALS; CASTING OF OTHER SUBSTANCES BY THE SAME PROCESSES OR DEVICES 23

C25D - PROCESSES FOR THE ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PRODUCTION OF COATINGS; ELECTROFORMING; APPARATUS THEREFOR 17

Y10T - TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION 14

F28F - DETAILS OF HEAT-EXCHANGE AND HEAT-TRANSFER APPARATUS, OF GENERAL APPLICATION 14

Y02E - REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION 13

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; 12

H01L - SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10 11

H01M - PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY 8

H01G - CAPACITORS; CAPACITORS, RECTIFIERS, DETECTORS, SWITCHING DEVICES, LIGHT-SENSITIVE OR TEMPERATURE-SENSITIVE DEVICES OF THE ELECTROLYTIC TYPE 8

B32B - LAYERED PRODUCTS, i.e. PRODUCTS BUILT-UP OF STRATA OF FLAT OR NON-FLAT, e.g. CELLULAR OR HONEYCOMB, FORM 8

C23C - COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL 8

F28D - HEAT-EXCHANGE APPARATUS, NOT PROVIDED FOR IN ANOTHER SUBCLASS, IN WHICH THE HEAT-EXCHANGE MEDIA DO NOT COME INTO DIRECT CONTACT 7

Top 15 of 69 technology areas

Patent Moat Analysis

Portfolio Volume Moderate

Tech Breadth Multi-domain

Claim Depth Simple

Velocity Declining

Where it ranks

Overall rank by patents

#2,461

Across all tracked assignees

Innovation Score

54.5 out of 100

View all rankings →

Data Source

USPTO PatentsView, US granted patents 2015–2025

How is Innovation Score calculated?

Frequently Asked Questions

How many patents does Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd. hold?

Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd. holds 159 US granted patents filed between 2015 and 2025, spanning 69 technology areas.

What is Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd.'s Innovation Score?

Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd. has an Innovation Score of 54.5 out of 100. This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), filing velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd. focus on?

Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd.'s top technology area is B23K (SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM) with 48 patents. The company has filed patents in 69 CPC subclasses total.

Is Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd.'s patent filing rate increasing or decreasing?

Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd.'s recent filing velocity is -15% compared to the prior five-year period. Filing activity has slowed relative to earlier years.

What does claim depth mean for Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd.'s patents?

Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd.'s patents average 8.3 claims each. This is relatively simple claim structure, typical for focused inventions.

How is the Nippon Light Metal Company, Ltd. 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.

How to use this portfolio

Nippon's 159 grants land it in the top 8% by Innovation Score, but volume alone doesn't tell you where the strength sits.

Read that count against the largest US assignees before treating it as dominance - Nippon ranks #2,461 of 50,000. Top 50 holders
Most of this portfolio concentrates in B23K - see who else leads that technology area. B23K leaders
Check what the four-part Innovation Score actually rewards before comparing it to another company. How the score works

Patent counts and the Innovation Score measure patenting activity, not commercial success or the legal strength of any patent. Many patents are filed defensively. Verify the status of an individual patent against official USPTO records.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent Editorial

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 byPlainPatent Editorial, US Patent Intelligence Editorial Team · 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.