Where does Washington University rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Washington University ranks #774 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 Washington University hold?

Washington University holds 594 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 135 technology areas.

What is Washington University's Innovation Score?

Washington University has an Innovation Score of 63.4 out of 100 (top 2% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Washington University focus on?

Washington University's top technology area is A61K (Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes) with 216 patents, ranking #79 of 7,163 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 135 CPC subclasses total.

Is Washington University's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Washington University's recent grant velocity is +47% 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 Washington University's patents?

Washington University's patents average 15.6 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 Washington University 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

Washington University

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 594 granted patents across 135 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: A61K (Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Washington ranks #774 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 594 patents across 135 technology areas.

#774
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 2%
by Innovation Score (63.4/100): 15.6
avg claims per patent: +47%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R774 · US Corporation #774 · 594 grants

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

GRANTS-MID 594 grants
TOP-DECILE #774/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Hunter Fan
CPC-WIDE A61K · 135 areas
INNOV-STRONG 63.4/100
CLAIMS-RICH 15.6 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-UP +47% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Hunter Fan Company (±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 Washington’s 63.4 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 22.1 pts (35%) Velocity 6.9 pts (11%) Breadth 25.0 pts (39%) Claim depth 9.4 pts (15%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
West Affum Holdings… · near

63
Washington University · this assignee

63
LM Wind Power A/S · near

63
Trustees OF… · near

63
Rutgers the State… · near

63
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Washington's Innovation Score is 63.4/100 (top 2% 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 Washington?

Each dot is one of Washington’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). Washington’s own 15.6 claims/patent is at or below the 18.6 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

How Washington's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, Washington University received 324 grants versus 220 in 2015–2019 (+47% equal-window velocity, above median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2024 at 79 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 31. Lead class A61K accounts for 36.4% of the portfolio across 135 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Hunter Fan Company (#770) and Showa Denko K.K. (#778).

Washington's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Washington University moved from 183 to 190 grants (1.04x 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 #1,085. See the growth leaderboard.

Hunter Fan

594
Red Hat Israel

594
Sanyo Electric

594
Schott

594
Washington Univer… ◀

594
Open Text

591
Baxter Healthcare

590
Carnegie Mellon U…

589
Showa Denko K K

589

What this shows Washington holds 594 patents at rank #774, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near Washington

By rank, the assignees closest to #774 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in A61K (Preparations FOR Medical)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Washington, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In A61K (Preparations FOR Medical), Washington ranks #79 of 7,163 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (63 here).

Trustees OF Dartmouth College 63 LM Wind Power A/S 63 Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey 63 West Affum Holdings DAC 63

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (15.6 here).

British American Tobacco (Investments) Limited 15.6 avg GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas LLC 15.6 avg Ingersoll-Rand Industrial U.S., Inc. 15.6 avg Korrus, Inc. 15.6 avg

Washington's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

63 Top 2% higher than 98% 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

Washington University patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	31	5.2%
2016	51	8.6%
2017	44	7.4%
2018	45	7.6%
2019	49	8.2%
2020	65	10.9%
2021	69	11.6%
2022	57	9.6%
2023	54	9.1%
2024	79	13.3%
2025partial year	50	8.4%

Which technologies does Washington University patent most?

A61K - Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes 216

A61P - Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations 158

A61B - DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; Identification 116

G01N - Investigating OR Analysing Materials BY Determining Their Chemical OR Physical Properties 109

C12N - Microorganisms OR ENZYMES; Compositions THEREOF; Propagating, Preserving, OR Maintaining MICROORGANISMS; Mutation OR Genetic ENGINEERING; Culture Media 98

C07K - Peptides 93

A61N - ELECTROTHERAPY; MAGNETOTHERAPY; Radiation THERAPY; Ultrasound Therapy 54

C12Q - Measuring OR Testing Processes Involving Enzymes, Nucleic Acids OR Microorganisms ; Compositions OR Test Papers THEREFOR; Processes OF Preparing Such COMPOSITIONS; Condition-responsive Control IN Microbiological OR Enzymological Processes 48

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 38

C07D - Heterocyclic Compounds 35

G01R - Measuring Electric VARIABLES; Measuring Magnetic Variables 33

A61F - Filters Implantable Into Blood VESSELS; PROSTHESES; Devices Providing Patency TO, OR Preventing Collapsing OF, Tubular Structures OF THE Body, e.g. STENTS; Orthopaedic, Nursing OR Contraceptive DEVICES; FOMENTATION; Treatment OR Protection OF Eyes OR EARS; Bandages, Dressings OR Absorbent PADS; Firs 32

Y02A - Technologies FOR Adaptation TO Climate Change 30

G16H - Healthcare Informatics, i.e. Information AND Communication Technology [ICT] Specially Adapted FOR THE Handling OR Processing OF Medical OR Healthcare Data 29

A61L - Methods OR Apparatus FOR Sterilising Materials OR Objects IN GENERAL; Disinfection, Sterilisation OR Deodorisation OF AIR; Chemical Aspects OF Bandages, Dressings, Absorbent Pads OR Surgical ARTICLES; Materials FOR Bandages, Dressings, Absorbent Pads OR Surgical Articles 27

Top 15 of 135 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

Washington University's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Washington University's lead technology class is A61K (Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes), 36.4% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore A61K
Ranked #774 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare Washington University against Hunter Fan Company, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 63.4/100 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.