Where does West Virginia University rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), West Virginia University ranks #3,643 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 West Virginia University hold?

West Virginia University holds 101 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 79 technology areas.

What is West Virginia University's Innovation Score?

West Virginia University has an Innovation Score of 56.5 out of 100 (top 6% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does West Virginia University focus on?

West Virginia University's top technology area is A61B (DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; Identification) with 14 patents, ranking #1,252 of 7,127 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 79 CPC subclasses total.

Is West Virginia University's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

West Virginia University's recent grant velocity is +4% 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 West Virginia University's patents?

West Virginia University's patents average 16.7 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 West Virginia 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

West Virginia University

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 101 granted patents across 79 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: A61B (DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; Identification).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

RSS updates for this company

Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, West ranks #3,643 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 101 patents across 79 technology areas.

#3,643
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 6%
by Innovation Score (56.5/100): 16.7
avg claims per patent: +4%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R3643 · US Corporation #3,643 · 101 grants

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

GRANTS-MID 101 grants
TOP-DECILE #3,643/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH The United States…
CPC-WIDE A61B · 79 areas
INNOV-PAR 56.5/100
CLAIMS-RICH 16.7 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-FLAT +4% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of NASA (±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 West’s 56.5 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 16.0 pts (28%) Velocity 5.5 pts (10%) Breadth 25.0 pts (44%) Claim depth 10.0 pts (18%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Lord · near

56
Samyang Holdings · near

56
Shanjin Optoelectron… · near

56
THE School Kansai… · near

56
West Virginia… · this assignee

56
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows West's Innovation Score is 56.5/100 (top 6% 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 West?

Each dot is one of West’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). West’s own 16.7 claims/patent is ABOVE the 13.6 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

How West's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, West Virginia University received 51 grants versus 49 in 2015–2019 (+4% equal-window velocity, above median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2018 at 15 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 5. Lead class A61B accounts for 13.9% of the portfolio across 79 subclasses. Volume neighbours: The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of NASA (#3,639) and ABB S.P.A. (#3,647).

West's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, West Virginia University moved from 33 to 27 grants (0.82x 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 #1,777. See the growth leaderboard.

The United States…

101
Thermo Fisher Sci…

101
Vetco Gray

101
Wahl Clipper

101
Zhongshan Broad-o…

101
ZTE (USA)

101
Zimmer Spine

101
West Virginia Uni… ◀

101
ABB S P A

100

What this shows West holds 101 patents at rank #3,643, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near West

By rank, the assignees closest to #3,643 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in A61B (Diagnosis)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for West, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In A61B (Diagnosis), West ranks #1,252 of 7,127 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (56 here).

Samyang Holdings Corporation 56 THE School Corporation Kansai University 56 Shanjin Optoelectronics (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. 56 Lord Corporation 56

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (16.7 here).

Sercel, Inc 16.7 avg Vitro Flat Glass LLC 16.7 avg Acacia Communications, Inc. 16.7 avg Go Daddy Operating Company, LLC 16.7 avg

West's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

56 Top 6% higher than 94% 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

West Virginia University patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	5	5.0%
2016	9	8.9%
2017	11	10.9%
2018	15	14.9%
2019	9	8.9%
2020	10	9.9%
2021	14	13.9%
2022	6	5.9%
2023	12	11.9%
2024	9	8.9%
2025partial year	1	1.0%

Which technologies does West Virginia University patent most?

A61B - DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; Identification 14

A61K - Preparations FOR Medical, Dental OR Toiletry Purposes 13

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

H01J - Electric Discharge Tubes OR Discharge Lamps 9

Y02E - Reduction OF Greenhouse GAS [GHG] Emissions, Related TO Energy Generation, Transmission OR Distribution 8

C12N - Microorganisms OR ENZYMES; Compositions THEREOF; Propagating, Preserving, OR Maintaining MICROORGANISMS; Mutation OR Genetic ENGINEERING; Culture Media 8

F02P - Ignition, Other Than Compression Ignition, FOR Internal-combustion ENGINES; Testing OF Ignition Timing IN Compression-ignition Engines 8

H01T - Spark GAPS; Overvoltage Arresters Using Spark GAPS; Sparking PLUGS; Corona DEVICES; Generating Ions TO BE Introduced Into Non-enclosed Gases 8

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 7

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 7

H01M - Processes OR Means, e.g. Batteries, FOR THE Direct Conversion OF Chemical Energy Into Electrical Energy 6

C07C - Acyclic OR Carbocyclic Compounds 6

A61P - Specific Therapeutic Activity OF Chemical Compounds OR Medicinal Preparations 6

B01J - Chemical OR Physical Processes, e.g. Catalysis OR Colloid CHEMISTRY; Their Relevant Apparatus 5

C01B - Non-metallic ELEMENTS; Compounds THEREOF; ; Metalloids OR Compounds Thereof NOT Covered BY Subclass C01c 5

Top 15 of 79 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

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

West Virginia University's lead technology class is A61B (DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; Identification), 13.9% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore A61B
Ranked #3,643 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare West Virginia University against The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of NASA, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 56.5/100 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.