Where does Vale S.A. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Vale S.A. ranks #5,128 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 Vale S.A. hold?

Vale S.A. holds 68 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 73 technology areas.

What is Vale S.A.'s Innovation Score?

Vale S.A. has an Innovation Score of 53.3 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%).

What technology areas does Vale S.A. focus on?

Vale S.A.'s top technology area is C22B (Production AND Refining OF Metals ; Pretreatment OF RAW Materials) with 22 patents, ranking #10 of 335 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 73 CPC subclasses total.

Is Vale S.A.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Vale S.A.'s recent grant velocity is -65% 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 Vale S.A.'s patents?

Vale S.A.'s patents average 15.3 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 Vale S.A. 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

Vale S.A.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 68 granted patents across 73 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: C22B (Production AND Refining OF Metals ; Pretreatment OF RAW Materials).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Vale ranks #5,128 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 68 patents across 73 technology areas.

#5,128
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 9%
by Innovation Score (53.3/100): 15.3
avg claims per patent: -65%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R5128 · Foreign Corporation #5,128 · 68 grants

GRANTS-SMALL · UPPER-Q · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-WIDE · INNOV-PAR · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-FRNCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-SMALL 68 grants
UPPER-Q #5,128/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Transphorm
CPC-WIDE C22B · 73 areas
INNOV-PAR 53.3/100
CLAIMS-RICH 15.3 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-DROP -65% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Transphorm 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 Vale’s 53.3 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 14.6 pts (27%) Velocity 4.4 pts (8%) Breadth 25.0 pts (47%) Claim depth 9.2 pts (17%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
National University… · near

53
ThyssenKrupp Steel… · near

53
University OF Durham · near

53
Vale · this assignee

53
ETH ZÜRICH (EIDGENÖS… · near

53
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Vale's Innovation Score is 53.3/100 (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 Vale?

Each dot is one of Vale’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). Vale’s own 15.3 claims/patent is at or below the 15.5 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

How Vale's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, Vale S.A. received 17 grants versus 48 in 2015–2019 (-65% equal-window velocity, below median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2015 at 15 grants and bottomed in 2024 at 2. Lead class C22B accounts for 32.4% of the portfolio across 73 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Transphorm Inc. (#5,121) and Zodiac Aerotechnics (#5,129).

Vale's three-year grant acceleration

Vale S.A. shows 8 grants in 2022–2024 against only 12 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.

Transphorm

68
Umbra

68
Ubicquia

68
United Kingdom Re…

68
Vactronix Scienti…

68
WD Media

68
Woven Planet Nort…

68
Zodiac Aerotechni…

68
Vale ◀

68

What this shows Vale holds 68 patents at rank #5,125, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Vale

By rank, the assignees closest to #5,125 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in C22B (Production AND Refining OF Metals)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Vale, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In C22B (Production AND Refining OF Metals), Vale ranks #10 of 335 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (53 here).

National University Corporation Nagoya University 53 ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG 53 University OF Durham 53 ETH ZÜRICH (EIDGENÖSSISCHE Technische Hochschule ZÜRICH) 53

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (15.3 here).

Unilin Bvba 15.3 avg Kautex Textron GmbH & Co. KG 15.3 avg IMEC 15.3 avg Lisa Draexlmaier GmbH 15.3 avg

Vale'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

Vale S.A. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	15	22.1%
2016	14	20.6%
2017	13	19.1%
2018	3	4.4%
2019	3	4.4%
2020	6	8.8%
2021	3	4.4%
2022	3	4.4%
2023	3	4.4%
2024	2	2.9%
2025partial year	3	4.4%

Which technologies does Vale S.A. patent most?

C22B - Production AND Refining OF Metals ; Pretreatment OF RAW Materials 22

Y02P - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies IN THE Production OR Processing OF Goods 10

B65G - Transport OR Storage Devices, e.g. Conveyors FOR Loading OR Tipping, Shop Conveyor Systems OR Pneumatic Tube Conveyors 7

G01V - GEOPHYSICS; Gravitational MEASUREMENTS; Detecting Masses OR OBJECTS; Tags 7

B03D - FLOTATION; Differential Sedimentation 5

C21B - Manufacture OF Iron OR Steel 4

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 4

E02F - DREDGING; Soil-shifting 3

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 3

G01N - Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties 3

G01R - Measuring Electric VARIABLES; Measuring Magnetic Variables 3

E21B - Earth OR Rock DRILLING; Obtaining OIL, GAS, Water, Soluble OR Meltable Materials OR A Slurry OF Minerals From Wells 3

B61F - Rail Vehicle Suspensions, e.g. Underframes, Bogies OR Arrangements OF Wheel AXLES; Rail Vehicles FOR USE ON Tracks OF Different WIDTH; Preventing Derailing OF Rail VEHICLES; Wheel Guards, Obstruction Removers OR THE Like FOR Rail Vehicles 2

G05D - Systems FOR Controlling OR Regulating Non-electric Variables 2

G05B - Control OR Regulating Systems IN GENERAL; Functional Elements OF Such SYSTEMS; Monitoring OR Testing Arrangements FOR Such Systems OR Elements 2

Top 15 of 73 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

Vale S.A.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Vale S.A.'s lead technology class is C22B (Production AND Refining OF Metals ; Pretreatment OF RAW Materials), 32.4% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore C22B
Ranked #5,128 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Vale S.A. against Transphorm Inc., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 53.3/100 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.