Where does Smith International, Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Smith International, Inc. ranks #1,646 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 Smith International, Inc. hold?

Smith International, Inc. holds 250 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2022, spanning 48 technology areas.

What is Smith International, Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Smith International, Inc. has an Innovation Score of 55.7 out of 100 (top 7% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

Is Smith International, Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Smith International, Inc.'s recent grant velocity is -88% 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 Smith International, Inc.'s patents?

Smith International, Inc.'s patents average 20.0 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 Smith International, 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

Smith International, Inc.

Q: What technology areas does Smith International, Inc. focus on?

Smith International, Inc.'s top technology area is E21B (Earth OR Rock DRILLING; Obtaining OIL, GAS, Water, Soluble OR Meltable Materials OR A Slurry OF Minerals From Wells) with 223 patents, ranking #15 of 1,363 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 48 CPC subclasses total.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 250 granted patents across 48 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2015–2022. 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: E21B (Earth OR Rock DRILLING; Obtaining OIL, GAS, Water, Soluble OR Meltable Materials OR A Slurry OF Minerals From Wells).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

RSS updates for this company

Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Smith ranks #1,646 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 250 patents across 48 technology areas.

#1,646
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 7%
by Innovation Score (55.7/100): 20.0
avg claims per patent: -88%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R1646 · US Corporation #1,646 · 250 grants

GRANTS-MID · TOP-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-WIDE · INNOV-PAR · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MID 250 grants
TOP-DECILE #1,646/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH American Axle &…
CPC-WIDE E21B · 48 areas
INNOV-PAR 55.7/100
CLAIMS-RICH 20.0 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DROP -88% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc. (±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 Smith’s 55.7 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 19.1 pts (34%) Velocity 0.1 pts (0%) Breadth 24.5 pts (44%) Claim depth 12.0 pts (22%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Heraeus Quarzglas & KG · near

56
Mallinckrodt… · near

56
Smith International · this assignee

56
S&C Electric · near

56
Total Research &… · near

56
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Smith's Innovation Score is 55.7/100 (top 7% 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 Smith?

Each dot is one of Smith’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). Smith’s own 20.0 claims/patent is ABOVE the 16.9 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

Where Smith's grants concentrate

Smith International, Inc. is a focused PatentsView assignee: 48 CPC subclasses with 89.2% of grants classified under E21B (Earth OR Rock DRILLING; Obtaining OIL, GAS, Water, Soluble OR Meltable Materials OR A Slurry OF Minerals From Wells). Peak complete grant year is 2016 (62 grants) versus a trough of 1 in 2022. By volume, Smith sits between THE Aerospace Corporation and Seven Networks, LLC.

Smith's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Smith International, Inc. moved from 63 to 1 grants (0.02x 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 #3,273. See the growth leaderboard.

THE Aerospace

251
UCB Biopharma SRL

251
Zscaler

251
American Axle & M…

250
Valinge Innovatio…

250
Smith Internation… ◀

250
AS America

249
Arkema

249
Seven Networks

249

What this shows Smith holds 250 patents at rank #1,646, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Smith

By rank, the assignees closest to #1,646 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in E21B (Earth OR Rock Drilling)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Smith, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In E21B (Earth OR Rock Drilling), Smith ranks #15 of 1,363 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (56 here).

Heraeus Quarzglas GMBH & Co. KG 56 Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals Ireland Limited 56 Total Research & Technology Feluy 56 S&C Electric Company 56

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (20.0 here).

American Megatrends, Inc. 20.0 avg Gentherm Incorporated 20.0 avg Asml Holding N.V. 20.0 avg SambaNova Systems, Inc. 20.0 avg

Smith's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

56 Top 7% higher than 93% 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 · 2015–2022

Grants by year

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

View data table

Smith International, Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	57	22.8%
2016	62	24.8%
2017	26	10.4%
2018	41	16.4%
2019	37	14.8%
2020	22	8.8%
2021	4	1.6%
2022	1	0.4%

Which technologies does Smith International, Inc. patent most?

E21B - Earth OR Rock DRILLING; Obtaining OIL, GAS, Water, Soluble OR Meltable Materials OR A Slurry OF Minerals From Wells 223

C22C - Alloys 41

B24D - Tools FOR Grinding, Buffing OR Sharpening 41

B22F - Working Metallic POWDER; Manufacture OF Articles From Metallic POWDER; Making Metallic Powder ; Apparatus OR Devices Specially Adapted FOR Metallic Powder 39

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 24

B01J - Chemical OR Physical Processes, e.g. Catalysis OR Colloid CHEMISTRY; Their Relevant Apparatus 14

C04B - Lime, MAGNESIA; SLAG; CEMENTS; Compositions Thereof, e.g. Mortars, Concrete OR Like Building MATERIALS; Artificial Stone ; Ceramics ; REFRACTORIES; Treatment OF Natural Stone 10

F04C - Rotary-piston, OR Oscillating-piston, Positive-displacement Machines FOR Liquids ; Rotary-piston, OR Oscillating-piston, Positive-displacement Pumps 8

B23P - Metal-working NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Combined OPERATIONS; Universal Machine Tools 8

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 6

F16C - SHAFTS; Flexible SHAFTS; Elements OR Crankshaft MECHANISMS; Rotary Bodies Other Than Gearing ELEMENTS; Bearings 5

F03C - Positive-displacement Engines Driven BY Liquids 5

B30B - Presses IN General 5

B23K - Soldering OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; Cladding OR Plating BY Soldering OR WELDING; Cutting BY Applying Heat Locally, e.g. Flame CUTTING; Working BY Laser Beam 5

C08K - Use of inorganic or non-macromolecular organic substances as compounding ingredients 3

Top 15 of 48 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

Smith International, Inc.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Smith International, Inc.'s lead technology class is E21B (Earth OR Rock DRILLING; Obtaining OIL, GAS, Water, Soluble OR Meltable Materials OR A Slurry OF Minerals From Wells), 89.2% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore E21B
Ranked #1,646 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Smith International, Inc. against THE Aerospace Corporation, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 55.7/100 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.