Where does Rolls-royce plc rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Rolls-royce plc ranks #182 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 Rolls-royce plc hold?

Rolls-royce plc holds 2,152 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 228 technology areas.

What is Rolls-royce plc's Innovation Score?

Rolls-royce plc has an Innovation Score of 65.8 out of 100 (top 1% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

Is Rolls-royce plc's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Rolls-royce plc's recent grant velocity is +8% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). The company is maintaining or growing its granted-patent output.

What does claim depth mean for Rolls-royce plc's patents?

Rolls-royce plc's patents average 15.1 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 Rolls-royce plc 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

Rolls-royce plc

Q: What technology areas does Rolls-royce plc focus on?

Rolls-royce plc's top technology area is F05D (Indexing Scheme FOR Aspects Relating TO Non-positive-displacement Machines OR Engines, Gas-turbines OR Jet-propulsion Plants) with 1,364 patents, ranking #5 of 744 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 228 CPC subclasses total.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 2,152 granted patents across 228 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: F05D (Indexing Scheme FOR Aspects Relating TO Non-positive-displacement Machines OR Engines, Gas-turbines OR Jet-propulsion Plants).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Rolls-royce ranks #182 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 2,152 patents across 228 technology areas.

#182
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 1%
by Innovation Score (65.8/100): 15.1
avg claims per patent: +8%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R182 · Foreign Corporation #182 · 2,152 grants

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

GRANTS-LARGE 2.2K grants
TOP-DECILE #182/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Nokia Solutions AND…
CPC-BROAD F05D · 228 areas
INNOV-STRONG 65.8/100
CLAIMS-RICH 15.1 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-FLAT +8% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Nokia Solutions AND Networks OY (±3 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 Rolls-royce’s 65.8 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 26.5 pts (40%) Velocity 5.3 pts (8%) Breadth 25.0 pts (38%) Claim depth 9.0 pts (14%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Autodesk · near

66
Facebook · near

66
Maplebear · near

66
Rolls-royce · this assignee

66
Eaton Intelligent… · near

66
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Rolls-royce's Innovation Score is 65.8/100 (top 1% 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 Rolls-royce?

Each dot is one of Rolls-royce’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). Rolls-royce’s own 15.1 claims/patent is ABOVE the 14.2 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

How Rolls-royce's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, Rolls-royce plc received 1,042 grants versus 962 in 2015–2019 (+8% equal-window velocity, above median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2019 at 265 grants and bottomed in 2016 at 153. Lead class F05D accounts for 63.4% of the portfolio across 228 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Visa International Service Association (#178) and Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation (#186).

Rolls-royce's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Rolls-royce plc moved from 731 to 576 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 #1,879. See the growth leaderboard.

Visa Internationa…

2,222
Cilag Internation…

2,210
Shin-etsu Chemical

2,184
Jaguar Land Rover

2,182
Rolls-royce ◀

2,152
Nokia Solutions A…

2,149
Alcatel Lucent

2,140
Shimadzu

2,128
Dolby Laboratorie…

2,118

What this shows Rolls-royce holds 2,152 patents at rank #182, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Rolls-royce

By rank, the assignees closest to #182 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in F05D (Indexing Scheme FOR Aspects Relating TO Non-positive-disp…)

Other assignees with the most granted patents in Rolls-royce's primary technology class.

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Rolls-royce, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In F05D (Indexing Scheme FOR Aspects Relating TO Non-positive-disp…), Rolls-royce ranks #5 of 744 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (66 here).

Facebook, Inc. 66 Maplebear Inc. 66 Eaton Intelligent Power Limited 66 Autodesk, Inc. 66

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (15.1 here).

Theravance Biopharma R&D IP, LLC 15.1 avg Keygene N.V. 15.1 avg STI Holdings, Inc. 15.1 avg Changxin Memory Technologies, Inc. 15.1 avg

Rolls-royce's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

66 Top 1% higher than 99% 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

Rolls-royce plc patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	170	7.9%
2016	153	7.1%
2017	177	8.2%
2018	197	9.2%
2019	265	12.3%
2020	229	10.6%
2021	237	11.0%
2022	244	11.3%
2023	169	7.9%
2024	163	7.6%
2025partial year	148	6.9%

Which technologies does Rolls-royce plc patent most?

F05D - Indexing Scheme FOR Aspects Relating TO Non-positive-displacement Machines OR Engines, Gas-turbines OR Jet-propulsion Plants 1,364

F01D - Non-positive Displacement Machines OR Engines, e.g. Steam Turbines 1,115

F02C - Gas-turbine PLANTS; AIR Intakes FOR Jet-propulsion PLANTS; Controlling Fuel Supply IN Air-breathing Jet-propulsion Plants 886

Y02T - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies Related TO Transportation 786

F02K - Jet-propulsion Plants 339

B64D - Equipment FOR Fitting IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; Flight SUITS; PARACHUTES; Arrangement OR Mounting OF Power Plants OR Propulsion Transmissions IN Aircraft 313

F04D - Non-positive-displacement Pumps 244

F23R - Generating Combustion Products OF High Pressure OR High Velocity, e.g. Gas-turbine Combustion Chambers 170

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 149

B64C - AEROPLANES; Helicopters 106

F16H - Gearing 98

H02K - Dynamo-electric Machines 92

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 91

B23P - Metal-working NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Combined OPERATIONS; Universal Machine Tools 87

G01N - Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties 87

Top 15 of 228 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

Rolls-royce plc's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Rolls-royce plc's lead technology class is F05D (Indexing Scheme FOR Aspects Relating TO Non-positive-displacement Machines OR Engines, Gas-turbines OR Jet-propulsion Plants), 63.4% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore F05D
Ranked #182 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Rolls-royce plc against Visa International Service Association, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 65.8/100 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.