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

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Thorlabs, Inc. ranks #4,494 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 Thorlabs, Inc. hold?

Thorlabs, Inc. holds 79 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 32 technology areas.

What is Thorlabs, Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Thorlabs, Inc. has an Innovation Score of 52.3 out of 100 (top 10% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Thorlabs, Inc. focus on?

Thorlabs, Inc.'s top technology area is G02B (Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus) with 34 patents, ranking #426 of 4,891 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 32 CPC subclasses total.

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

Thorlabs, 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 Thorlabs, Inc.'s patents?

Thorlabs, Inc.'s patents average 18.0 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 Thorlabs, 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

Thorlabs, Inc.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 79 granted patents across 32 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: G02B (Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Thorlabs ranks #4,494 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 79 patents across 32 technology areas.

#4,494
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 10%
by Innovation Score (52.3/100): 18.0
avg claims per patent: -7%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R4494 · US Corporation #4,494 · 79 grants

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

GRANTS-SMALL 79 grants
TOP-DECILE #4,494/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH TE Connectivity…
CPC-FOCUS G02B · 32 areas
INNOV-PAR 52.3/100
CLAIMS-RICH 18.0 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-FLAT -7% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: TE Connectivity Nederland BV (±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 Thorlabs’s 52.3 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 15.1 pts (29%) Velocity 6.4 pts (12%) Breadth 20.0 pts (38%) Claim depth 10.8 pts (21%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Ormco · near

52
Chargepoint · near

52
Micro Mobio · near

52
Stabilus · near

52
Thorlabs · this assignee

52
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Thorlabs's Innovation Score is 52.3/100 (top 10% 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 Thorlabs?

Each dot is one of Thorlabs’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). Thorlabs’s own 18.0 claims/patent is ABOVE the 16.7 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

Where Thorlabs's grants concentrate

Thorlabs, Inc. is a focused PatentsView assignee: 32 CPC subclasses with 43% of grants classified under G02B (Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus). Peak complete grant year is 2018 (10 grants) versus a trough of 4 in 2015. By volume, Thorlabs sits between TE Connectivity Nederland BV and Vitro Flat Glass LLC.

Thorlabs's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Thorlabs, Inc. moved from 23 to 22 grants (0.96x the prior three-year total, a multiple, not a CAGR). See the growth leaderboard.

TE Connectivity N…

79
Tesla Motors

79
Thales Avionics

79
The University Co…

79
University OF Haw…

79
Unitedhealth Grou…

79
Vitra Patente

79
Vitro Flat Glass

79
Thorlabs ◀

79

What this shows Thorlabs holds 79 patents at rank #4,494, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Thorlabs

By rank, the assignees closest to #4,494 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in G02B (Optical Elements)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Thorlabs, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In G02B (Optical Elements), Thorlabs ranks #426 of 4,891 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (52 here).

Stabilus GmbH 52 Chargepoint, Inc. 52 Micro Mobio Corporation 52 Ormco Corporation 52

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (18.0 here).

Bitzer Kühlmaschinenbau GmbH 18.0 avg W.R. Grace & Co.-Conn. 18.0 avg Oregon Health & Science University 18.0 avg Lotes Co., Ltd 18.0 avg

Thorlabs's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

52 Top 10% higher than 90% 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

Thorlabs, Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	4	5.1%
2016	9	11.4%
2017	9	11.4%
2018	10	12.7%
2019	8	10.1%
2020	7	8.9%
2021	8	10.1%
2022	9	11.4%
2023	7	8.9%
2024	6	7.6%
2025partial year	2	2.5%

Which technologies does Thorlabs, Inc. patent most?

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 34

H01S - Devices Using THE Process OF Light Amplification BY Stimulated Emission OF Radiation [LASER] TO Amplify OR Generate LIGHT; Devices Using Stimulated Emission OF Electromagnetic Radiation IN Wave Ranges Other Than Optical 31

G01B - Measuring Length, Thickness OR Similar Linear DIMENSIONS; Measuring ANGLES; Measuring AREAS; Measuring Irregularities OF Surfaces OR Contours 19

G01N - Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties 13

A61B - DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; Identification 12

G01J - Measurement OF Intensity, Velocity, Spectral Content, Polarisation, Phase OR Pulse Characteristics OF Infrared, Visible OR Ultraviolet LIGHT; COLORIMETRY; Radiation Pyrometry 8

H02N - Electric Machines NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 6

G02F - Optical Devices OR Arrangements FOR THE Control OF Light BY Modification OF THE Optical Properties OF THE Media OF THE Elements Involved THEREIN; Non-linear OPTICS; Frequency-changing OF LIGHT; Optical Logic ELEMENTS; Optical ANALOGUE/DIGITAL Converters 4

G03H - Holographic Processes OR Apparatus 3

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 3

G01S - Radio DIRECTION-FINDING; Radio NAVIGATION; Determining Distance OR Velocity BY USE OF Radio WAVES; Locating OR Presence-detecting BY USE OF THE Reflection OR Reradiation OF Radio WAVES; Analogous Arrangements Using Other Waves 2

H02K - Dynamo-electric Machines 2

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 2

B01L - Chemical OR Physical Laboratory Apparatus FOR General USE 1

B25H - Workshop Equipment, e.g. FOR Marking-out WORK; Storage Means FOR Workshops 1

Top 15 of 32 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

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

Thorlabs, Inc.'s lead technology class is G02B (Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus), 43% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore G02B
Ranked #4,494 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Thorlabs, Inc. against TE Connectivity Nederland BV, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 52.3/100 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.