Where does The Sherwin-Williams Company rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), The Sherwin-Williams Company ranks #2,176 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 The Sherwin-Williams Company hold?

The Sherwin-Williams Company holds 181 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 72 technology areas.

What is The Sherwin-Williams Company's Innovation Score?

The Sherwin-Williams Company has an Innovation Score of 53.2 out of 100 (top 9% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

Is The Sherwin-Williams Company's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

The Sherwin-Williams Company's recent grant velocity is -22% 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 The Sherwin-Williams Company's patents?

The Sherwin-Williams Company's patents average 13.0 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 The Sherwin-Williams Company 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

The Sherwin-Williams Company

Q: What technology areas does The Sherwin-Williams Company focus on?

The Sherwin-Williams Company's top technology area is C09D (Coating Compositions, e.g. Paints, Varnishes OR LACQUERS; Filling PASTES; Chemical Paint OR INK REMOVERS; INKS; Correcting FLUIDS; WOODSTAINS; Pastes OR Solids FOR Colouring OR PRINTING; USE OF Materials Therefor) with 79 patents, ranking #42 of 1,818 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 72 CPC subclasses total.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 181 granted patents across 72 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: C09D (Coating Compositions, e.g. Paints, Varnishes OR LACQUERS; Filling PASTES; Chemical Paint OR INK REMOVERS; INKS; Correcting FLUIDS; WOODSTAINS; Pastes OR Solids FOR Colouring OR PRINTING; USE OF Materi).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

RSS updates for this company

Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, The ranks #2,176 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 181 patents across 72 technology areas.

#2,176
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 9%
by Innovation Score (53.2/100): 13.0
avg claims per patent: -22%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R2176 · US Corporation #2,176 · 181 grants

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

GRANTS-MID 181 grants
TOP-DECILE #2,176/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Devicor Medical…
CPC-WIDE C09D · 72 areas
INNOV-PAR 53.2/100
CLAIMS-RICH 13.0 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DOWN -22% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Devicor Medical Products, 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 The’s 53.2 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 18.0 pts (34%) Velocity 2.4 pts (5%) Breadth 25.0 pts (47%) Claim depth 7.8 pts (15%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Centre Hospitalier… · near

53
Chroma ATE · near

53
Hendrickson USA L L C · near

53
STMicroelectronics… · near

53
The Sherwin-Williams · this assignee

53
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows The's Innovation Score is 53.2/100 (top 9% 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 The?

Each dot is one of The’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). The’s own 13.0 claims/patent is at or below the 15.6 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

How The's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, The Sherwin-Williams Company received 79 grants versus 101 in 2015–2019 (-22% equal-window velocity, below median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2019 at 38 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 9. Lead class C09D accounts for 43.6% of the portfolio across 72 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Devicor Medical Products, Inc. (#2,172) and DRÄGER Safety AG & Co. Kgaa (#2,180).

The's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, The Sherwin-Williams Company moved from 86 to 31 grants (0.36x 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 #2,929. See the growth leaderboard.

Devicor Medical P…

181
Enphase Energy

181
Mentor Acquisitio…

181
Piaggio & C SPA

181
The Sherwin-willi… ◀

181
3shape A/S

180
Bomag

180
Dowa Materials

180
DRÄGER Safety & K…

180

What this shows The holds 181 patents at rank #2,176, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near The

By rank, the assignees closest to #2,176 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in C09D (Coating Compositions)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for The, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In C09D (Coating Compositions), The ranks #42 of 1,818 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (53 here).

Hendrickson USA, L.L.C. 53 Chroma ATE Inc. 53 Centre Hospitalier ET Universitaire DE Brest 53 STMicroelectronics (Shenzhen) R&D Co. Ltd. 53

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (13.0 here).

Bissell Homecare, Inc. 13.0 avg Smiths Medical ASD, Inc. 13.0 avg Pratt Corrugated Holdings, Inc. 13.0 avg Gates Corporation 13.0 avg

The's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

53 Top 9% higher than 91% 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

The Sherwin-Williams Company patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	9	5.0%
2016	16	8.8%
2017	11	6.1%
2018	27	14.9%
2019	38	21.0%
2020	28	15.5%
2021	20	11.0%
2022	12	6.6%
2023	9	5.0%
2024	10	5.5%
2025partial year	1	0.6%

Which technologies does The Sherwin-Williams Company patent most?

C09D - Coating Compositions, e.g. Paints, Varnishes OR LACQUERS; Filling PASTES; Chemical Paint OR INK REMOVERS; INKS; Correcting FLUIDS; WOODSTAINS; Pastes OR Solids FOR Colouring OR PRINTING; USE OF Materials Therefor 79

C08K - Use of inorganic or non-macromolecular organic substances as compounding ingredients 42

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 29

B65D - Containers FOR Storage OR Transport OF Articles OR Materials, e.g. Bags, Barrels, Bottles, Boxes, Cans, Cartons, Crates, Drums, Jars, Tanks, Hoppers, Forwarding CONTAINERS; Accessories, Closures, OR Fittings THEREFOR; Packaging ELEMENTS; Packages 26

C08G - Macromolecular Compounds Obtained Otherwise Than BY Reactions Only Involving Unsaturated Carbon-to-carbon Bonds 24

C08L - Compositions OF Macromolecular Compounds 20

C08F - Macromolecular Compounds Obtained BY Reactions Only Involving Carbon-to-carbon Unsaturated Bonds 18

B05D - Processes FOR Applying Fluent Materials TO Surfaces, IN General 18

B44D - Painting OR Artistic Drawing, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Preserving PAINTINGS; Surface Treatment TO Obtain Special Artistic Surface Effects OR Finishes 15

B05C - Apparatus FOR Applying Fluent Materials TO Surfaces, IN General 11

B25G - Handles FOR Hand Implements 10

B32B - Layered Products, i.e. Products Built-up OF Strata OF Flat OR Non-flat, e.g. Cellular OR Honeycomb, Form 9

C23C - Coating Metallic MATERIAL; Coating Material With Metallic MATERIAL; Surface Treatment OF Metallic Material BY Diffusion Into THE Surface, BY Chemical Conversion OR SUBSTITUTION; Coating BY Vacuum Evaporation, BY Sputtering, BY ION Implantation OR BY Chemical Vapour Deposition, IN General 9

B26B - Hand-held Cutting Tools NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 6

E04F - Finishing Work ON Buildings, e.g. Stairs, Floors 6

Top 15 of 72 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

The Sherwin-Williams Company's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

The Sherwin-Williams Company's lead technology class is C09D (Coating Compositions, e.g. Paints, Varnishes OR LACQUERS; Filling PASTES; Chemical Paint OR INK REMOVERS; INKS; Correcting FLUIDS; WOODSTAINS; Pastes OR Solids FOR Colouring OR PRINTING; USE OF Materi), 43.6% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore C09D
Ranked #2,176 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare The Sherwin-Williams Company against Devicor Medical Products, Inc., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 53.2/100 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.