Where does SoftBank Corp. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), SoftBank Corp. ranks #2,779 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 SoftBank Corp. hold?

SoftBank Corp. holds 139 US utility patents granted between 2016 and 2025, spanning 49 technology areas.

What is SoftBank Corp.'s Innovation Score?

SoftBank Corp. has an Innovation Score of 69.0 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%).

What technology areas does SoftBank Corp. focus on?

SoftBank Corp.'s top technology area is H04W (Wireless Communication Networks) with 87 patents, ranking #232 of 5,904 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 49 CPC subclasses total.

Is SoftBank Corp.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

SoftBank Corp.'s recent grant velocity is +133% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). This indicates accelerating grant output.

What does claim depth mean for SoftBank Corp.'s patents?

SoftBank Corp.'s patents average 16.5 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 SoftBank Corp. 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

SoftBank Corp.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 139 granted patents across 49 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2016–2025. 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: H04W (Wireless Communication Networks).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Softbank ranks #2,779 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 139 patents across 49 technology areas.

#2,779
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 1%
by Innovation Score (69.0/100): 16.5
avg claims per patent: +133%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R2779 · Foreign Corporation #2,779 · 139 grants

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

GRANTS-MID 139 grants
TOP-DECILE #2,779/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Nanjing University…
CPC-WIDE H04W · 49 areas
INNOV-STRONG 69.0/100
CLAIMS-RICH 16.5 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-SURGE +133% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (±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 Softbank’s 69.0 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 17.1 pts (25%) Velocity 17.3 pts (25%) Breadth 24.7 pts (36%) Claim depth 9.9 pts (14%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Carrier · near

69
Shanghai United… · near

69
SoftBank · this assignee

69
Shell USA · near

69
TDK · near

69
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Softbank's Innovation Score is 69.0/100 (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 Softbank?

Each dot is one of Softbank’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). Softbank’s own 16.5 claims/patent is ABOVE the 13.2 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

Where Softbank's grants concentrate

SoftBank Corp. is a focused PatentsView assignee: 49 CPC subclasses with 62.6% of grants classified under H04W (Wireless Communication Networks). Peak complete grant year is 2024 (38 grants) versus a trough of 5 in 2016. By volume, Softbank sits between National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University and Calsonic Kansei Corporation.

Softbank's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, SoftBank Corp. moved from 25 to 65 grants (2.60x 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 #110. See the growth leaderboard.

National Yang Min…

139
Nuovo Pignone Tec…

139
Nanjing Universit…

139
Pentair Water Poo…

139
Spirit Aerosystems

139
Softbank ◀

139
Avigilon

138
Cal-comp & Commun…

138
Calsonic Kansei

138

What this shows SoftBank holds 139 patents at rank #2,779, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near SoftBank

By rank, the assignees closest to #2,779 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in H04W (Wireless Communication Networks)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for SoftBank, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In H04W (Wireless Communication Networks), SoftBank ranks #232 of 5,904 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (69 here).

Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare Co., Ltd. 69 Carrier Corporation 69 Shell USA, Inc. 69 TDK Electronics AG 69

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (16.5 here).

Fingerprint Cards AB 16.5 avg University of Iowa Research Foundation 16.5 avg Nuscale Power, LLC 16.5 avg Checkpoint Systems, Inc. 16.5 avg

Softbank's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

69 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 · 2016–2025

Grants by year

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

View data table

SoftBank Corp. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2016	5	3.6%
2017	10	7.2%
2018	15	10.8%
2019	6	4.3%
2020	10	7.2%
2021	9	6.5%
2022	21	15.1%
2023	6	4.3%
2024	38	27.3%
2025partial year	19	13.7%

Which technologies does SoftBank Corp. patent most?

H04W - Wireless Communication Networks 87

H04B - Transmission 81

H04L - Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication 32

B64U - Unmanned Aerial Vehicles [UAV]; Equipment Therefor 19

H01Q - Antennas, i.e. Radio Aerials 15

B64C - AEROPLANES; Helicopters 8

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 8

H04M - Telephonic Communication 8

Y02D - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies IN Information AND Communication Technologies [ICT], I.E. Information AND Communication Technologies Aiming AT THE Reduction OF Their OWN Energy USE 8

G05D - Systems FOR Controlling OR Regulating Non-electric Variables 7

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 7

G08G - Traffic Control Systems 6

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 6

Y02E - Reduction OF Greenhouse GAS [GHG] Emissions, Related TO Energy Generation, Transmission OR Distribution 5

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 5

Top 15 of 49 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

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

SoftBank Corp.'s lead technology class is H04W (Wireless Communication Networks), 62.6% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore H04W
Ranked #2,779 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare SoftBank Corp. against National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 69.0/100 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.