Where does Southco, Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Southco, Inc. ranks #3,690 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 Southco, Inc. hold?

Southco, Inc. holds 99 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 28 technology areas.

What is Southco, Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Southco, Inc. has an Innovation Score of 47.4 out of 100 (top 19% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Southco, Inc. focus on?

Southco, Inc.'s top technology area is E05B (LOCKS; Accessories THEREFOR; Handcuffs) with 30 patents, ranking #29 of 815 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 28 CPC subclasses total.

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

Southco, Inc.'s recent grant velocity is -7% 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 Southco, Inc.'s patents?

Southco, Inc.'s patents average 12.3 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 Southco, 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

Southco, Inc.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 99 granted patents across 28 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: E05B (LOCKS; Accessories THEREFOR; Handcuffs).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Southco ranks #3,690 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 99 patents across 28 technology areas.

#3,690
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 19%
by Innovation Score (47.4/100): 12.3
avg claims per patent: -7%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R3690 · US Corporation #3,690 · 99 grants

GRANTS-SMALL · TOP-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-PAR · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-FLAT · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-SMALL 99 grants
TOP-DECILE #3,690/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Saginomiya Seisakusho
CPC-FOCUS E05B · 28 areas
INNOV-PAR 47.4/100
CLAIMS-RICH 12.3 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-FLAT -7% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Saginomiya Seisakusho, 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 Southco’s 47.4 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 15.9 pts (34%) Velocity 5.4 pts (11%) Breadth 18.7 pts (39%) Claim depth 7.4 pts (16%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Lotes · near

47
Yuan ZE University · near

47
Geodynamics · near

47
Riken Technos · near

47
Southco · this assignee

47
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Southco's Innovation Score is 47.4/100 (top 19% 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 Southco?

Each dot is one of Southco’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). Southco’s own 12.3 claims/patent is ABOVE the 9.5 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

Where Southco's grants concentrate

Southco, Inc. is a focused PatentsView assignee: 28 CPC subclasses with 30.3% of grants classified under E05B (LOCKS; Accessories THEREFOR; Handcuffs). Peak complete grant year is 2019 (23 grants) versus a trough of 3 in 2017. By volume, Southco sits between Shandong University OF Science AND Technology and Aichi Steel Corporation.

Southco's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Southco, Inc. moved from 36 to 29 grants (0.81x the prior three-year total, a multiple, not a CAGR). See the growth leaderboard.

Shandong Universi…

99
Sugino Machine

99
Saginomiya Seisak…

99
Sitronix Technolo…

99
TCI

99
Veeva Systems

99
Wheel Group Holdi…

99
Southco ◀

99
Aichi Steel

98

What this shows Southco holds 99 patents at rank #3,691, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Southco

By rank, the assignees closest to #3,691 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in E05B (Locks)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Southco, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In E05B (Locks), Southco ranks #29 of 815 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (47 here).

Geodynamics, Inc. 47 Riken Technos Corporation 47 Lotes Co., Ltd 47 Yuan ZE University 47

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (12.3 here).

Traeger Pellet Grills, LLC 12.3 avg True Velocity IP Holdings, Inc. 12.3 avg Nissan Chemical Corporation 12.3 avg United Microelectronics Corp. 12.3 avg

Southco's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

47 Top 19% higher than 81% 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

Southco, Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	4	4.0%
2016	7	7.1%
2017	3	3.0%
2018	8	8.1%
2019	23	23.2%
2020	4	4.0%
2021	9	9.1%
2022	10	10.1%
2023	9	9.1%
2024	10	10.1%
2025partial year	12	12.1%

Which technologies does Southco, Inc. patent most?

E05B - LOCKS; Accessories THEREFOR; Handcuffs 30

E05C - Bolts OR Fastening Devices FOR Wings, Specially FOR Doors OR Windows 25

F16M - Frames, Casings OR Beds OF Engines, Machines OR Apparatus, NOT Specific TO Engines, Machines OR Apparatus Provided FOR ELSEWHERE; STANDS; Supports 11

E05Y - Indexing Scheme Associated With Subclasses E05d AND E05f, Relating TO Construction Elements, Electric Control, Power Supply, Power Signal OR Transmission, User Interfaces, Mounting OR Coupling, Details, Accessories, Auxiliary Operations NOT Otherwise Provided FOR, Application Thereof 11

F16C - SHAFTS; Flexible SHAFTS; Elements OR Crankshaft MECHANISMS; Rotary Bodies Other Than Gearing ELEMENTS; Bearings 8

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 5

E05D - Hinges OR Suspension Devices FOR Doors, Windows OR Wings 5

A47B - TABLES; DESKS; Office FURNITURE; CABINETS; DRAWERS; General Details OF Furniture 4

H05K - Printed CIRCUITS; Casings OR Constructional Details OF Electric APPARATUS; Manufacture OF Assemblages OF Electrical Components 4

B60N - Seats Specially Adapted FOR VEHICLES; Vehicle Passenger Accommodation NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 4

E05F - Devices FOR Moving Wings Into Open OR Closed POSITION; Checks FOR WINGS; Wing Fittings NOT Otherwise Provided FOR, Concerned With THE Functioning OF THE Wing 4

G07C - Time OR Attendance REGISTERS; Registering OR Indicating THE Working OF MACHINES; Generating Random NUMBERS; Voting OR Lottery APPARATUS; Arrangements, Systems OR Apparatus FOR Checking NOT Provided FOR Elsewhere 3

F16B - Devices FOR Fastening OR Securing Constructional Elements OR Machine Parts Together, e.g. Nails, Bolts, Circlips, Clamps, Clips OR WEDGES; Joints OR Jointing 3

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 3

G09F - DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; Labels OR NAME-PLATES; Seals 2

Top 15 of 28 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

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

Southco, Inc.'s lead technology class is E05B (LOCKS; Accessories THEREFOR; Handcuffs), 30.3% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore E05B
Ranked #3,690 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Southco, Inc. against Shandong University OF Science AND Technology, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 47.4/100 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.