Where does SKYPE rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), SKYPE ranks #3,411 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 SKYPE hold?

SKYPE holds 109 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2020, spanning 18 technology areas.

What is SKYPE's Innovation Score?

SKYPE has an Innovation Score of 44.7 out of 100 (top 25% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does SKYPE focus on?

SKYPE's top technology area is H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication) with 61 patents, ranking #564 of 8,956 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 18 CPC subclasses total.

Is SKYPE's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

SKYPE's recent grant velocity is -98% 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 SKYPE's patents?

SKYPE's patents average 22.4 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 SKYPE 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

SKYPE

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 109 granted patents across 18 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2015–2020. 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: H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Skype ranks #3,411 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 109 patents across 18 technology areas.

#3,411
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 25%
by Innovation Score (44.7/100): 22.4
avg claims per patent: -98%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R3411 · Foreign Corporation #3,411 · 109 grants

GRANTS-MID · TOP-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-PAR · CLAIMS-DENSE · TYPE-FRNCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MID 109 grants
TOP-DECILE #3,411/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Salk Institute for…
CPC-FOCUS H04L · 18 areas
INNOV-PAR 44.7/100
CLAIMS-DENSE 22.4 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-DROP -98% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Salk Institute for Biological Studies (±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 Skype’s 44.7 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 16.2 pts (36%) Velocity 0.0 pts (0%) Breadth 15.0 pts (34%) Claim depth 13.4 pts (30%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Pierburg Pump… · near

45
Primetals Japan · near

45
SKYPE · this assignee

45
Spire Global… · near

45
Tokyo Seimitsu · near

45
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Skype's Innovation Score is 44.7/100 (top 25% 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 Skype?

Each dot is one of Skype’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). Skype’s own 22.4 claims/patent is ABOVE the 14.3 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

Where Skype's grants concentrate

SKYPE is a focused PatentsView assignee: 18 CPC subclasses with 56% of grants classified under H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication). Peak complete grant year is 2015 (38 grants) versus a trough of 2 in 2020. By volume, Skype sits between Shanghai Institute OF Materia Medica, Chinese Academy OF Sciences and TEL Hashomer Medical Research Infrastructure AND Services Ltd..

Shanghai Institut…

109
Siemens Product L…

109
SIG Technology

109
Silgan Dispensing…

109
Stepan

109
Salk Institute fo…

109
Storedot

109
TEL Hashomer Medi…

109
Skype ◀

109

What this shows SKYPE holds 109 patents at rank #3,410, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near SKYPE

By rank, the assignees closest to #3,410 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for SKYPE, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information), SKYPE ranks #564 of 8,956 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (45 here).

Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd. 45 Primetals Technologies Japan, Ltd. 45 Spire Global Subsidiary, Inc. 45 Pierburg Pump Technology GMBH 45

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (22.4 here).

Pelican Imaging Corporation 22.4 avg TAE Technologies, Inc. 22.4 avg Subsea 7 Limited 22.4 avg KWS Saat SE & Co. KGaA 22.4 avg

Skype's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

45 Top 25% higher than 75% 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 · 2015–2020

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2015–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

SKYPE patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	38	34.9%
2016	32	29.4%
2017	20	18.3%
2018	7	6.4%
2019	10	9.2%
2020	2	1.8%

Which technologies does SKYPE patent most?

H04L - Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication 61

H04M - Telephonic Communication 35

H04W - Wireless Communication Networks 22

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 22

G10L - Speech Analysis Techniques OR Speech SYNTHESIS; Speech RECOGNITION; Speech OR Voice Processing TECHNIQUES; Speech OR Audio Coding OR Decoding 20

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 19

G06Q - Information AND Communication Technology [ICT] Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory PURPOSES; Systems OR Methods Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory Purposes, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 9

H04R - Loudspeakers, Microphones, Gramophone Pick-ups OR Like Acoustic Electromechanical TRANSDUCERS; Deaf-aid SETS; Public Address Systems 8

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 3

G08B - Signalling OR Calling SYSTEMS; Order TELEGRAPHS; Alarm Systems 2

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 2

H04B - Transmission 1

G09G - Arrangements OR Circuits FOR Control OF Indicating Devices Using Static Means TO Present Variable Information 1

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 1

H03G - Control OF Amplification 1

Top 15 of 18 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

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

SKYPE's lead technology class is H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication), 56% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore H04L
Ranked #3,411 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare SKYPE against Shanghai Institute OF Materia Medica, Chinese Academy OF Sciences, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 44.7/100 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.