Where does NSK Ltd. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), NSK Ltd. ranks #487 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 NSK Ltd. hold?

NSK Ltd. holds 914 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 129 technology areas.

What is NSK Ltd.'s Innovation Score?

NSK Ltd. has an Innovation Score of 59.4 out of 100 (top 4% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does NSK Ltd. focus on?

NSK Ltd.'s top technology area is B62D (Motor VEHICLES; Trailers) with 443 patents, ranking #10 of 1,368 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 129 CPC subclasses total.

Is NSK Ltd.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

NSK Ltd.'s recent grant velocity is -29% 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 NSK Ltd.'s patents?

NSK Ltd.'s patents average 9.2 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 NSK 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.

USPTO 2015–2025 USPTO PatentsView Foreign Corporation

NSK Ltd.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 914 granted patents across 129 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: B62D (Motor VEHICLES; Trailers).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

RSS updates for this company

Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, NSK ranks #487 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 914 patents across 129 technology areas.

#487
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 4%
by Innovation Score (59.4/100): 9.2
avg claims per patent: -29%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R487 · Foreign Corporation #487 · 914 grants

GRANTS-MID · TOP-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-WIDE · INNOV-PAR · CLAIMS-PAR · TYPE-FRNCORP · VEL-DOWN · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MID 914 grants
TOP-DECILE #487/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH KT
CPC-WIDE B62D · 129 areas
INNOV-PAR 59.4/100
CLAIMS-PAR 9.2 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-DOWN -29% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: KT Corporation (±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.

How NSK’s 59.4 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 23.6 pts (40%) Velocity 5.3 pts (9%) Breadth 25.0 pts (42%) Claim depth 5.5 pts (9%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Exxonmobil Research… · near

59
Infinera · near

59
Office National… · near

59
NSK · this assignee

59
Cox Communications · near

59
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows NSK's Innovation Score is 59.4/100 (top 4% 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 NSK?

Each dot is one of NSK’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). NSK’s own 9.2 claims/patent is at or below the 14.1 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

How NSK's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, NSK Ltd. received 361 grants versus 510 in 2015–2019 (-29% equal-window velocity, below median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2019 at 121 grants and bottomed in 2023 at 62. Lead class B62D accounts for 48.5% of the portfolio across 129 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Battelle Memorial Institute (#483) and Dyson Technology Limited (#491).

NSK's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, NSK Ltd. moved from 269 to 213 grants (0.79x 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 #1,869. See the growth leaderboard.

Battelle Memorial…

917
Baidu Online Netw…

916
KT

914
Maxell

914
Research & Busine…

914
NSK ◀

914
Ofinno

911
Silicon Motion

910
Dyson Technology

908

What this shows NSK holds 914 patents at rank #487, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near NSK

By rank, the assignees closest to #487 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in B62D (Motor Vehicles)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for NSK, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In B62D (Motor Vehicles), NSK ranks #10 of 1,368 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (59 here).

Cox Communications, Inc. 59 Exxonmobil Research AND Engineering Company 59 Infinera Corp. 59 Office National D'etudes ET DE Recherches AÉROSPATIALES 59

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (9.2 here).

Lapis Semiconductor Co., Ltd. 9.2 avg YKK Corporation 9.2 avg Wuhan University 9.2 avg Aruze Gaming America, Inc. 9.2 avg

NSK's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

59 Top 4% higher than 96% 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

NSK Ltd. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	94	10.3%
2016	86	9.4%
2017	107	11.7%
2018	102	11.2%
2019	121	13.2%
2020	84	9.2%
2021	64	7.0%
2022	70	7.7%
2023	62	6.8%
2024	81	8.9%
2025partial year	43	4.7%

Which technologies does NSK Ltd. patent most?

B62D - Motor VEHICLES; Trailers 443

F16C - SHAFTS; Flexible SHAFTS; Elements OR Crankshaft MECHANISMS; Rotary Bodies Other Than Gearing ELEMENTS; Bearings 275

F16H - Gearing 138

F16D - Couplings FOR Transmitting ROTATION; CLUTCHES; Brakes 84

H02P - Control OR Regulation OF Electric Motors, Electric Generators OR Dynamo-electric CONVERTERS; Controlling Transformers, Reactors OR Choke Coils 81

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 55

B60B - Vehicle Wheels ; CASTORS; Axles FOR Wheels OR CASTORS; Increasing Wheel Adhesion 45

H02K - Dynamo-electric Machines 44

G01L - Measuring Force, Stress, Torque, Work, Mechanical Power, Mechanical Efficiency, OR Fluid Pressure 44

B21K - Making Forged OR Pressed Metal Products, e.g. Horse-shoes, Rivets, Bolts OR Wheels 39

B21J - FORGING; HAMMERING; Pressing METAL; RIVETING; Forge Furnaces 35

B23P - Metal-working NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Combined OPERATIONS; Universal Machine Tools 31

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 29

B60R - Vehicles, Vehicle Fittings, OR Vehicle Parts, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 28

B21D - Working OR Processing OF Sheet Metal OR Metal Tubes, Rods OR Profiles Without Essentially Removing MATERIAL; Punching Metal 26

Top 15 of 129 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

NSK Ltd.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

NSK Ltd.'s lead technology class is B62D (Motor VEHICLES; Trailers), 48.5% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore B62D
Ranked #487 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare NSK Ltd. against Battelle Memorial Institute, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 59.4/100 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.