Where does Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc. ranks #27,480 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 Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc. hold?

Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc. holds 10 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2024, spanning 21 technology areas.

What is Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc. has an Innovation Score of 39.4 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 Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc. focus on?

Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc.'s top technology area is C08K (Use of inorganic or non-macromolecular organic substances as compounding ingredients) with 4 patents, ranking #641 of 1,963 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 21 CPC subclasses total.

Is Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc.'s recent grant velocity is +0% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). The company is maintaining or growing its granted-patent output.

What does claim depth mean for Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc.'s patents?

Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc.'s patents average 13.8 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 Specialty Minerals (Michigan) 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

Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 10 granted patents across 21 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2015–2024. 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: C08K (Use of inorganic or non-macromolecular organic substances as compounding ingredients).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Specialty ranks #27,480 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 10 patents across 21 technology areas.

#27,480
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 38%
by Innovation Score (39.4/100): 13.8
avg claims per patent: +0%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R27480 · US Corporation #27,480 · 10 grants

GRANTS-MICRO · MID-PACK · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-THIN · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-FLAT · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MICRO 10 grants
MID-PACK #27,480/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Sony Network…
CPC-FOCUS C08K · 21 areas
INNOV-THIN 39.4/100
CLAIMS-RICH 13.8 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-FLAT +0% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Sony Network Communications Europe B.V. (±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 Specialty’s 39.4 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 8.3 pts (21%) Velocity 6.7 pts (17%) Breadth 16.2 pts (41%) Claim depth 8.3 pts (21%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Specialty Minerals… · this assignee

39
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Specialty's Innovation Score is 39.4/100 (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 Specialty?

Each dot is one of Specialty’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). Specialty’s own 13.8 claims/patent is ABOVE the 12.7 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

Where Specialty's grants concentrate

Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc. is a focused PatentsView assignee: 21 CPC subclasses with 40% of grants classified under C08K (Use of inorganic or non-macromolecular organic substances as compounding ingredients). Peak complete grant year is 2015 (3 grants) versus a trough of 1 in 2018. By volume, Specialty sits between Sony Network Communications Europe B.V. and Spindle 360, Inc..

Specialty's three-year grant acceleration

Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc. shows 3 grants in 2022–2024 against only 3 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.

Sony Network Comm…

10
Southwest Agri-pl…

10
Spark Biomedical

10
Spartan Orthodont…

10
Spectralink

10
Spellbound Develo…

10
Spinal Singularity

10
Spindle 360

10
Specialty Mineral… ◀

10

What this shows Specialty holds 10 patents at rank #27,502, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Specialty

By rank, the assignees closest to #27,502 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in C08K (Use of inorganic or non-macromolecular organic substances…)

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

Specialty's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

39 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 · 2015–2024

Grants by year

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

View data table

Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	3	30.0%
2018	1	10.0%
2019	1	10.0%
2020	1	10.0%
2021	1	10.0%
2022	1	10.0%
2023	1	10.0%
2024	1	10.0%

Which technologies does Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc. patent most?

C08K - Use of inorganic or non-macromolecular organic substances as compounding ingredients 4

C08L - Compositions OF Macromolecular Compounds 4

C01P - Indexing Scheme Relating TO Structural AND Physical Aspects OF Solid Inorganic Compounds 2

C01F - Compounds OF THE Metals Beryllium, Magnesium, Aluminium, Calcium, Strontium, Barium, Radium, Thorium, OR OF THE Rare-earth Metals 2

B09C - Reclamation OF Contaminated Soil 2

B01J - Chemical OR Physical Processes, e.g. Catalysis OR Colloid CHEMISTRY; Their Relevant Apparatus 2

C02F - Treatment OF Water, Waste Water, Sewage, OR Sludge 2

B01D - Separation 2

D21H - Pulp COMPOSITIONS; Preparation Thereof NOT Covered BY Subclasses D21c OR D21D; Impregnating OR Coating OF PAPER; Treatment OF Finished Paper NOT Covered BY Class B31 OR Subclass D21G; Paper NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 1

Y02W - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies Related TO Wastewater Treatment OR Waste Management 1

C09C - Treatment OF Inorganic Materials, Other Than Fibrous Fillers, TO Enhance Their Pigmenting OR Filling Properties ; Preparation OF Carbon Black ; ; Preparation OF Inorganic Materials Which ARE NO Single Chemical Compounds AND Which ARE Mainly Used AS Pigments OR Fillers 1

B21J - FORGING; HAMMERING; Pressing METAL; RIVETING; Forge Furnaces 1

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 1

G01B - Measuring Length, Thickness OR Similar Linear DIMENSIONS; Measuring ANGLES; Measuring AREAS; Measuring Irregularities OF Surfaces OR Contours 1

D21C - Production OF Cellulose BY Removing Non-cellulose Substances From Cellulose-containing MATERIALS; Regeneration OF Pulping LIQUORS; Apparatus Therefor 1

Top 15 of 21 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

Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc.'s lead technology class is C08K (Use of inorganic or non-macromolecular organic substances as compounding ingredients), 40% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore C08K
Ranked #27,480 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Specialty Minerals (Michigan) Inc. against Sony Network Communications Europe B.V., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 39.4/100 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.