Where does Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation ranks #387 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 Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation hold?

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation holds 1,140 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 219 technology areas.

What is Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation's Innovation Score?

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation has an Innovation Score of 64.5 out of 100 (top 2% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation focus on?

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation's top technology area is G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing) with 135 patents, ranking #417 of 13,878 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 219 CPC subclasses total.

Is Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation's recent grant velocity is -15% 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 Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation's patents?

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation's patents average 17.8 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 Northrop Grumman Systems 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 US Corporation

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 1,140 granted patents across 219 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: G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Northrop ranks #387 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 1,140 patents across 219 technology areas.

#387
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 2%
by Innovation Score (64.5/100): 17.8
avg claims per patent: -15%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R387 · US Corporation #387 · 1,140 grants

GRANTS-LARGE · TOP-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-BROAD · INNOV-STRONG · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-DOWN · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-LARGE 1.1K grants
TOP-DECILE #387/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Osram Opto Semicondu…
CPC-BROAD G06F · 219 areas
INNOV-STRONG 64.5/100
CLAIMS-RICH 17.8 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DOWN -15% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH (±1 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 Northrop’s 64.5 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 24.3 pts (38%) Velocity 4.6 pts (7%) Breadth 25.0 pts (39%) Claim depth 10.7 pts (17%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Bose · near

65
The Brigham and… · near

65
Northrop Grumman… · this assignee

65
Shenzhen China Star… · near

65
Dana-farber Cancer… · near

65
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Northrop's Innovation Score is 64.5/100 (top 2% 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 Northrop?

Each dot is one of Northrop’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). Northrop’s own 17.8 claims/patent is ABOVE the 11.8 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

How Northrop's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation received 495 grants versus 583 in 2015–2019 (-15% equal-window velocity, above median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2017 at 157 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 60. Lead class G06F accounts for 11.8% of the portfolio across 219 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Ciena Corporation (#383) and Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. (#391).

Northrop's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation moved from 376 to 257 grants (0.68x 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 #2,200. See the growth leaderboard.

Ciena

1,148
Jvckenwood

1,148
Hitachi Astemo

1,145
Osram Opto Semico…

1,141
Northrop Grumman… ◀

1,140
Cadence Design Sy…

1,138
Aisin Seiki

1,137
Korea Institute O…

1,136
Kimberly-clark Wo…

1,135

What this shows Northrop holds 1,140 patents at rank #387, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Northrop

By rank, the assignees closest to #387 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Northrop, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing), Northrop ranks #417 of 13,878 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (65 here).

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd. 65 Bose Corporation 65 Dana-farber Cancer Institute, Inc. 65 The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc. 65

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (17.8 here).

Schneider Electric USA, Inc. 17.8 avg Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc. 17.8 avg Rotation Medical, Inc. 17.8 avg NHN Corporation 17.8 avg

Northrop's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

65 Top 2% higher than 98% 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

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	60	5.3%
2016	89	7.8%
2017	157	13.8%
2018	139	12.2%
2019	138	12.1%
2020	127	11.1%
2021	111	9.7%
2022	90	7.9%
2023	102	8.9%
2024	65	5.7%
2025partial year	62	5.4%

Which technologies does Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation patent most?

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 135

H10N - Electric Solid-state Devices NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 113

H03K - Pulse Technique 113

H01L - Semiconductor Devices NOT Covered BY Class H10 102

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 88

H04L - Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication 69

G06N - Computing Arrangements Based ON Specific Computational Models 69

G01S - Radio DIRECTION-FINDING; Radio NAVIGATION; Determining Distance OR Velocity BY USE OF Radio WAVES; Locating OR Presence-detecting BY USE OF THE Reflection OR Reradiation OF Radio WAVES; Analogous Arrangements Using Other Waves 62

H04B - Transmission 59

H01S - Devices Using THE Process OF Light Amplification BY Stimulated Emission OF Radiation [LASER] TO Amplify OR Generate LIGHT; Devices Using Stimulated Emission OF Electromagnetic Radiation IN Wave Ranges Other Than Optical 59

G01C - Measuring Distances, Levels OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; Gyroscopic INSTRUMENTS; Photogrammetry OR Videogrammetry 57

G11C - Static Stores 55

G01R - Measuring Electric VARIABLES; Measuring Magnetic Variables 55

B64C - AEROPLANES; Helicopters 54

H01Q - Antennas, i.e. Radio Aerials 53

Top 15 of 219 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

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation's lead technology class is G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing), 11.8% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore G06F
Ranked #387 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation against Ciena Corporation, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 64.5/100 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.