Where does Smithfield Foods, Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Smithfield Foods, Inc. ranks #43,177 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 Smithfield Foods, Inc. hold?

Smithfield Foods, Inc. holds 6 US utility patents granted between 2016 and 2023, spanning 10 technology areas.

What is Smithfield Foods, Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Smithfield Foods, Inc. has an Innovation Score of 39.6 out of 100 (top 38% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Smithfield Foods, Inc. focus on?

Smithfield Foods, Inc.'s top technology area is A22C (Processing Meat, Poultry, OR Fish) with 3 patents, ranking #64 of 119 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 10 CPC subclasses total.

Is Smithfield Foods, Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Smithfield Foods, Inc.'s recent grant velocity is +100% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). This indicates accelerating grant output.

What does claim depth mean for Smithfield Foods, Inc.'s patents?

Smithfield Foods, Inc.'s patents average 25.7 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 Smithfield Foods, 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

Smithfield Foods, Inc.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 6 granted patents across 10 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2016–2023. 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: A22C (Processing Meat, Poultry, OR Fish).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Smithfield ranks #43,177 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 6 patents across 10 technology areas.

#43,177
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 38%
by Innovation Score (39.6/100): 25.7
avg claims per patent: +100%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R43177 · US Corporation #43,177 · 6 grants

GRANTS-MICRO · LOWER-Q · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-THIN · CLAIMS-DENSE · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-SURGE · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MICRO 6 grants
LOWER-Q #43,177/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Smart and Armor…
CPC-FOCUS A22C · 10 areas
INNOV-THIN 39.6/100
CLAIMS-DENSE 25.7 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-SURGE +100% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Smart and Armor Protected, LLC (±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 Smithfield’s 39.6 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 6.7 pts (17%) Velocity 6.7 pts (17%) Breadth 11.2 pts (28%) Claim depth 15.0 pts (38%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Smithfield Foods · this assignee

40
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Smithfield's Innovation Score is 39.6/100 (top 38% 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 Smithfield?

Each dot is one of Smithfield’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). Smithfield’s own 25.7 claims/patent is ABOVE the 11.8 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

Where Smithfield's grants concentrate

Smithfield Foods, Inc. is a focused PatentsView assignee: 10 CPC subclasses with 50% of grants classified under A22C (Processing Meat, Poultry, OR Fish). Peak complete grant year is 2023 (2 grants) versus a trough of 1 in 2016. By volume, Smithfield sits between Smart and Armor Protected, LLC and Soci, Inc..

Smithfield's three-year grant acceleration

Smithfield Foods, Inc. shows 2 grants in 2022–2024 against only 2 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.

Smart and Armor P…

6
Smarthealth

6
Smartrac Technolo…

6
Smith Mountain In…

6
Smiths Group

6
Snap-on Equipment…

6
Soctronics

6
Soci

6
Smithfield Foods ◀

6

What this shows Smithfield holds 6 patents at rank #43,286, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Smithfield

By rank, the assignees closest to #43,286 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in A22C (Processing Meat)

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

Smithfield's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

40 Top 38% higher than 62% 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 · 2016–2023

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2016–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

Smithfield Foods, Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2016	1	16.7%
2017	1	16.7%
2020	1	16.7%
2021	1	16.7%
2023	2	33.3%

Which technologies does Smithfield Foods, Inc. patent most?

A22C - Processing Meat, Poultry, OR Fish 3

A23L - Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic Beverages, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Preparation OR Treatment Thereof 2

A23V - Indexing Scheme Relating TO Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic Beverages AND Lactic OR Propionic Acid Bacteria Used IN Foodstuffs OR Food Preparation 2

A23B - Preservation OF Foods, Foodstuffs OR Non-alcoholic BEVERAGES; Chemical Ripening OF Fruit OR Vegetables 2

C02F - Treatment OF Water, Waste Water, Sewage, OR Sludge 1

B01D - Separation 1

A23P - Shaping OR Working OF Foodstuffs, NOT Fully Covered BY A Single Other Subclass 1

B26D - CUTTING; Details Common TO Machines FOR Perforating, Punching, Cutting-out, Stamping-out OR Severing 1

A47J - Kitchen EQUIPMENT; Coffee MILLS; Spice MILLS; Apparatus FOR Making Beverages 1

B65G - Transport OR Storage Devices, e.g. Conveyors FOR Loading OR Tipping, Shop Conveyor Systems OR Pneumatic Tube Conveyors 1

Top 10 of 10 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

Smithfield Foods, Inc.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Smithfield Foods, Inc.'s lead technology class is A22C (Processing Meat, Poultry, OR Fish), 50% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore A22C
Ranked #43,177 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Smithfield Foods, Inc. against Smart and Armor Protected, LLC, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 39.6/100 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.