Where does SMS group GmbH rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), SMS group GmbH ranks #1,609 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 SMS group GmbH hold?

SMS group GmbH holds 257 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 87 technology areas.

What is SMS group GmbH's Innovation Score?

SMS group GmbH has an Innovation Score of 59.4 out of 100 (top 4% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does SMS group GmbH focus on?

SMS group GmbH's top technology area is B21B (Rolling OF Metal) with 145 patents, ranking #1 of 171 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 87 CPC subclasses total.

Is SMS group GmbH's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

SMS group GmbH's recent grant velocity is +54% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). This indicates accelerating grant output.

What does claim depth mean for SMS group GmbH's patents?

SMS group GmbH's patents average 12.9 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 SMS group GmbH 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

SMS group GmbH

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 257 granted patents across 87 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: B21B (Rolling OF Metal).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

RSS updates for this company

Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, SMS ranks #1,609 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 257 patents across 87 technology areas.

#1,609
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 4%
by Innovation Score (59.4/100): 12.9
avg claims per patent: +54%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R1609 · Foreign Corporation #1,609 · 257 grants

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

GRANTS-MID 257 grants
TOP-DECILE #1,609/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH AAC Acoustic…
CPC-WIDE B21B · 87 areas
INNOV-PAR 59.4/100
CLAIMS-RICH 12.9 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-SURGE +54% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: AAC Acoustic Technologies (SHENZHEN) Co., Ltd. (±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 SMS’s 59.4 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 19.2 pts (32%) Velocity 7.5 pts (13%) Breadth 25.0 pts (42%) Claim depth 7.7 pts (13%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Positec Power Tools… · near

59
Nouryon Chemicals… · near

59
SMS group · this assignee

59
Exxonmobil Research… · near

59
Infinera · near

59
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows SMS's Innovation Score is 59.4/100 (top 4% 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 SMS?

Each dot is one of SMS’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). SMS’s own 12.9 claims/patent is at or below the 13.9 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

How SMS's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, SMS group GmbH received 139 grants versus 90 in 2015–2019 (+54% equal-window velocity, above median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2022 at 31 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 11. Lead class B21B accounts for 56.4% of the portfolio across 87 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (#1,605) and Kitty Hawk Corporation (#1,613).

SMS's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, SMS group GmbH moved from 75 to 84 grants (1.12x 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 #920. See the growth leaderboard.

Turner Broadcasti…

258
AAC Acoustic (She…

257
Flir Systems

257
Horiba

257
SMS group ◀

257
Asahi Kasei Micro…

256
Bull SAS

256
Johnson Electric

256
Kitty Hawk

256

What this shows SMS holds 257 patents at rank #1,609, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near SMS

By rank, the assignees closest to #1,609 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in B21B (Rolling OF Metal)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for SMS, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In B21B (Rolling OF Metal), SMS ranks #1 of 171 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (59 here).

Nouryon Chemicals International B.V. 59 Infinera Corp. 59 Positec Power Tools (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. 59 Exxonmobil Research AND Engineering Company 59

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (12.9 here).

Thales DIS France SAS 12.9 avg TS Tech Co., Ltd. 12.9 avg ALI Group S.R.L.—CARPIGIANI 12.9 avg Tekni-Plex, Inc. 12.9 avg

SMS's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

59 Top 4% higher than 96% 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

SMS group GmbH patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	11	4.3%
2016	20	7.8%
2017	24	9.3%
2018	15	5.8%
2019	20	7.8%
2020	28	10.9%
2021	27	10.5%
2022	31	12.1%
2023	26	10.1%
2024	27	10.5%
2025partial year	28	10.9%

Which technologies does SMS group GmbH patent most?

B21B - Rolling OF Metal 145

B21C - Manufacture OF Metal Sheets, Wire, Rods, Tubes, Profiles OR Like Semi-manufactured Products Otherwise Than BY ROLLING; Auxiliary Operations Used IN Connection With Metal-working Without Essentially Removing Material 36

B22D - Casting OF METALS; Casting OF Other Substances BY THE Same Processes OR Devices 36

C21D - Modifying THE Physical Structure OF Ferrous METALS; General Devices FOR Heat Treatment OF Ferrous OR Non-ferrous Metals OR ALLOYS; Making Metal Malleable, e.g. BY Decarburisation OR Tempering 27

B21D - Working OR Processing OF Sheet Metal OR Metal Tubes, Rods OR Profiles Without Essentially Removing MATERIAL; Punching Metal 23

Y02P - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies IN THE Production OR Processing OF Goods 19

B30B - Presses IN General 16

F27D - Details OR Accessories OF Furnaces, Kilns, Ovens OR Retorts, IN SO FAR AS They ARE OF Kinds Occurring IN More Than ONE Kind OF Furnace 16

F27B - Furnaces, Kilns, Ovens OR Retorts IN GENERAL; Open Sintering OR Like Apparatus 16

F16C - SHAFTS; Flexible SHAFTS; Elements OR Crankshaft MECHANISMS; Rotary Bodies Other Than Gearing ELEMENTS; Bearings 14

B21J - FORGING; HAMMERING; Pressing METAL; RIVETING; Forge Furnaces 11

C21C - Processing OF Pig-iron, e.g. Refining, Manufacture OF Wrought-iron OR STEEL; Treatment IN Molten State OF Ferrous Alloys 11

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 10

B21H - Making Particular Metal Objects BY Rolling, e.g. Screws, Wheels, Rings, Barrels, Balls 10

B05B - Spraying APPARATUS; Atomising APPARATUS; Nozzles 7

Top 15 of 87 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

SMS group GmbH's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

SMS group GmbH's lead technology class is B21B (Rolling OF Metal), 56.4% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore B21B
Ranked #1,609 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare SMS group GmbH against Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 59.4/100 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.