PlainPatent
USPTO 2015–2025 USPTO PatentsView US Corporation

Norfolk Southern Corporation

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 19 granted patents across 30 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: B61L (GUIDING RAILWAY TRAFFIC; ENSURING THE SAFETY OF RAILWAY TRAFFIC).

Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Norfolk ranks #15,499 of 50,000 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 19 patents across 30 technology areas.

#15,499
of 50,000 US assignees by volume
Top 3%
by Innovation Score (60.3/100)
17.7
avg claims per patent
+0%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R15499 · US Corporation #15,499 · 19 grants

GRANTS-MICRO · MID-PACK · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-STRONG · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-FLAT · BOOK-FULL

  • GRANTS-MICRO 19 grants
  • MID-PACK #15,499/50,000
  • PHOTO-FINISH Nikki
  • CPC-FOCUS B61L · 30 areas
  • INNOV-STRONG 60.3/100
  • CLAIMS-RICH 17.7 claims/avg
  • TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
  • VEL-FLAT +0% vel
  • BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Nikki Co., Ltd. (±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.

Innovation-score neighbourhood around Norfolk

Lowest and highest poles plus nearest Innovation Score peers, not a full corpus board reprint.

score

What this shows Norfolk Southern Corporation stamps GRANTS-MICRO, MID-PACK, PHOTO-FINISH, CPC-FOCUS, INNOV-STRONG, CLAIMS-RICH, TYPE-USCORP, VEL-FLAT, BOOK-FULL. Volume places it #15,499 of 50,000; Innovation Score 60.3/100 sits in the top 3% of the PatentsView-derived corpus. Closest grant-volume peer on this plate is Nikki Co., Ltd. (±0 grants).

Source USPTO PatentsView, PlainPatent Innovation Score As of 2015–2025

Portfolio overview

Norfolk Southern Corporation has been granted 19 US utility patents between 2015 and 2025, placing Norfolk Southern Corporation at #15,499 of 50,000 across all assignees tracked by PlainPatent. This portfolio spans 30 distinct Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) subclasses, averaging 17.7 claims per patent with primary concentration in B61L (GUIDING RAILWAY TRAFFIC; ENSURING THE SAFETY OF RAILWAY TRAFFIC). As a US Corporation, Norfolk Southern Corporation is one of the more focused assignees in the PatentsView dataset. By volume, Norfolk sits between Nikki Co., Ltd. (19 patents, rank #15,498) and Novoluto Gmbh (19 patents, rank #15,506) - the closest US assignees by grant volume. The composite Innovation Score of 60.3/100 blends portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth into a single comparable measure drawn directly from USPTO PatentsView records.

Grant cadence records the difference between two grant-year windows. Between 2020 and 2024 the company received 9 grants, compared with 9 in the 2015–2019 window, a +0% shift in five-year grant velocity. Both windows cover five complete grant years; the latest PatentsView year is a partial release and is excluded from this comparison, though it still appears in the yearly table and chart below. Grant timing can lag the related application by years, so this comparison does not establish current R&D spending, strategic intent, or a company’s application activity. The US Corporation classification provides context for the assignee record, not a conclusion about its business strategy.

Claim depth and technology breadth describe this aggregate record. Norfolk Southern Corporation's 17.7 average claims per patent is an average count, not a measure of claim scope, legal strength, enforceability, or design-around risk. The record spans 30 CPC subclasses. Combined with portfolio volume, these figures let readers compare the documented grant records of assignees in similar technology classes.

Who files at Norfolk's volume?

Granted US patents 2015–2025 versus its nearest-ranked assignees by volume, this company marked ◀

patents

What this shows Norfolk holds 19 patents at rank #15,502, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Source USPTO PatentsView, granted utility patents As of 2015–2025

Companies ranked near Norfolk

By rank, the assignees closest to #15,502 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in B61L (Guiding Railway Traffic)

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

Norfolk's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

60 Top 3% higher than 97% of 50,000 US assignees

0–10: 687 US assignees (1%). Below this entry. 10–20: 2,527 US assignees (5%). Below this entry. 20–30: 13,162 US assignees (26%). Below this entry. 30–40: 15,294 US assignees (31%). Below this entry. 40–50: 11,491 US assignees (23%). Below this entry. 50–60: 5,058 US assignees (10%). Below this entry. 60–70: 1,537 US assignees (3%). This entry sits in this band. 70–80: 234 US assignees (0%). Above this entry. 80–90: 10 US assignees (0%). Above this entry. 90–100: 0 US assignees (0%). Above this entry. This assignee 0 100 every tracked assignee, bucketed by value

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

02468 20152016201920212022202320242025 1
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
Norfolk Southern Corporation patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year Patents Granted Share of Period
2015 1 5.3%
2016 7 36.8%
2019 1 5.3%
2021 1 5.3%
2022 3 15.8%
2023 2 10.5%
2024 3 15.8%
2025partial year 1 5.3%

Which technologies does Norfolk Southern Corporation patent most?

Top 15 of 30 technology areas

Where it ranks

Overall rank by patents

#15,499

of 50,000 tracked assignees

Innovation Score

60.3 out of 100

View all rankings →

Data Source

USPTO PatentsView, US granted patents 2015–2025

How is Innovation Score calculated?
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

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.