Where does Plug Power Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Plug Power Inc. ranks #13,623 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 Plug Power Inc. hold?

Plug Power Inc. holds 22 US utility patents granted between 2017 and 2025, spanning 17 technology areas.

What is Plug Power Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Plug Power Inc. has an Innovation Score of 47.7 out of 100 (top 18% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Plug Power Inc. focus on?

Plug Power Inc.'s top technology area is Y02E (Reduction OF Greenhouse GAS [GHG] Emissions, Related TO Energy Generation, Transmission OR Distribution) with 15 patents, ranking #892 of 5,963 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 17 CPC subclasses total.

Is Plug Power Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Plug Power Inc.'s recent grant velocity is +600% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). This indicates accelerating grant output.

What does claim depth mean for Plug Power Inc.'s patents?

Plug Power Inc.'s patents average 14.9 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 Plug Power Inc. 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

Plug Power Inc.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 22 granted patents across 17 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2017–2025. 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: Y02E (Reduction OF Greenhouse GAS [GHG] Emissions, Related TO Energy Generation, Transmission OR Distribution).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Plug ranks #13,623 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 22 patents across 17 technology areas.

#13,623
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 18%
by Innovation Score (47.7/100): 14.9
avg claims per patent: +600%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R13623 · US Corporation #13,623 · 22 grants

GRANTS-SMALL · MID-PACK · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-PAR · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-SURGE · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-SMALL 22 grants
MID-PACK #13,623/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH PA COTTE
CPC-FOCUS Y02E · 17 areas
INNOV-PAR 47.7/100
CLAIMS-RICH 14.9 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-SURGE +600% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: PA.COTTE SA (±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 Plug’s 47.7 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 10.8 pts (23%) Velocity 13.3 pts (28%) Breadth 14.6 pts (31%) Claim depth 8.9 pts (19%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Plug Power · this assignee

48
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Plug's Innovation Score is 47.7/100 (top 18% 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 Plug?

Each dot is one of Plug’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). Plug’s own 14.9 claims/patent is at or below the 16.9 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

Where Plug's grants concentrate

Plug Power Inc. is a focused PatentsView assignee: 17 CPC subclasses with 68.2% of grants classified under Y02E (Reduction OF Greenhouse GAS [GHG] Emissions, Related TO Energy Generation, Transmission OR Distribution). Peak complete grant year is 2024 (5 grants) versus a trough of 1 in 2017. By volume, Plug sits between PA.COTTE SA and Proteantecs Ltd..

Plug's three-year grant acceleration

Plug Power Inc. shows 10 grants in 2022–2024 against only 5 in 2019–2021. That prior window is too thin for a growth multiple (rename and spin-out assignees look artificially high when the baseline is near zero), so PlainPatent withholds a ranked acceleration claim here.

PA Cotte

22
Paragon Semicondu…

22
Phoenix Electric

22
Plant Bioscience

22
Precitec Optronik

22
Prophesee

22
Proprio

22
Proteantecs

22
Plug Power ◀

22

What this shows Plug holds 22 patents at rank #13,612, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Plug

By rank, the assignees closest to #13,612 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in Y02E (Reduction OF Greenhouse GAS [GHG] Emissions)

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

Plug's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

48 Top 18% higher than 82% 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 · 2017–2025

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2017–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

Plug Power Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2017	1	4.5%
2019	1	4.5%
2020	2	9.1%
2021	2	9.1%
2022	2	9.1%
2023	3	13.6%
2024	5	22.7%
2025partial year	6	27.3%

Which technologies does Plug Power Inc. patent most?

Y02E - Reduction OF Greenhouse GAS [GHG] Emissions, Related TO Energy Generation, Transmission OR Distribution 15

H01M - Processes OR Means, e.g. Batteries, FOR THE Direct Conversion OF Chemical Energy Into Electrical Energy 13

Y02P - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies IN THE Production OR Processing OF Goods 5

F17C - Vessels FOR Containing OR Storing Compressed, Liquefied OR Solidified GASES; Fixed-capacity GAS-HOLDERS; Filling Vessels With, OR Discharging From Vessels, Compressed, Liquefied, OR Solidified Gases 5

Y02T - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies Related TO Transportation 4

C25B - Electrolytic OR Electrophoretic Processes FOR THE Production OF Compounds OR NON-METALS; Apparatus Therefor 4

B01D - Separation 2

B29L - Indexing Scheme Associated With Subclass B29c, Relating TO Particular Articles 2

B29C - Shaping OR Joining OF PLASTICS; Shaping OF Material IN A Plastic State, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; After-treatment OF THE Shaped Products, e.g. Repairing 2

B29K - Indexing Scheme Associated With Subclasses B29b, B29c OR B29d, Relating TO Moulding Materials OR TO Materials FOR ; Moulds, ; Reinforcements, Fillers OR Preformed Parts, e.g. Inserts 2

G01R - Measuring Electric VARIABLES; Measuring Magnetic Variables 1

C01B - Non-metallic ELEMENTS; Compounds THEREOF; ; Metalloids OR Compounds Thereof NOT Covered BY Subclass C01c 1

B60L - Propulsion OF Electrically-propelled Vehicles ; Supplying Electric Power FOR Auxiliary Equipment OF Electrically-propelled Vehicles ; Electrodynamic Brake Systems FOR Vehicles IN General ; Magnetic Suspension OR Levitation FOR VEHICLES; Monitoring Operating Variables OF Electrically-propelled Vehicl 1

E03B - Installations OR Methods FOR Obtaining, Collecting, OR Distributing Water 1

Y02A - Technologies FOR Adaptation TO Climate Change 1

Top 15 of 17 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

Plug Power Inc.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Plug Power Inc.'s lead technology class is Y02E (Reduction OF Greenhouse GAS [GHG] Emissions, Related TO Energy Generation, Transmission OR Distribution), 68.2% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore Y02E
Ranked #13,623 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Plug Power Inc. against PA.COTTE SA, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 47.7/100 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.