Where does YKK Corporation rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), YKK Corporation ranks #994 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 YKK Corporation hold?

YKK Corporation holds 443 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 77 technology areas.

What is YKK Corporation's Innovation Score?

YKK Corporation has an Innovation Score of 56.2 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 YKK Corporation focus on?

YKK Corporation's top technology area is A44B (Buttons, Pins, Buckles, Slide Fasteners, OR THE Like) with 333 patents, ranking #1 of 276 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 77 CPC subclasses total.

Is YKK Corporation's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

YKK Corporation's recent grant velocity is -36% 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 YKK Corporation's patents?

YKK Corporation's patents average 9.2 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 YKK Corporation 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

YKK Corporation

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 443 granted patents across 77 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: A44B (Buttons, Pins, Buckles, Slide Fasteners, OR THE Like).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, YKK ranks #994 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 443 patents across 77 technology areas.

#994
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 6%
by Innovation Score (56.2/100): 9.2
avg claims per patent: -36%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R994 · Foreign Corporation #994 · 443 grants

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

GRANTS-MID 443 grants
TOP-DECILE #994/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Daifuku
CPC-WIDE A44B · 77 areas
INNOV-PAR 56.2/100
CLAIMS-PAR 9.2 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-DOWN -36% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Daifuku Co., Ltd. (±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 YKK’s 56.2 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 21.1 pts (38%) Velocity 4.6 pts (8%) Breadth 25.0 pts (44%) Claim depth 5.5 pts (10%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Brilliant Home… · near

56
Cellco Partnership · near

56
E &J Gallo Winery · near

56
Valeo Systemes… · near

56
YKK · this assignee

56
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows YKK's Innovation Score is 56.2/100 (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 YKK?

Each dot is one of YKK’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). YKK’s own 9.2 claims/patent is at or below the 15.7 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

How YKK's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, YKK Corporation received 165 grants versus 256 in 2015–2019 (-36% equal-window velocity, below median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2015 at 60 grants and bottomed in 2023 at 25. Lead class A44B accounts for 75.2% of the portfolio across 77 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Nissan Chemical Industries, Ltd. (#990) and Shanghai Langbo Communication Technology Company Limited (#998).

YKK's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, YKK Corporation moved from 119 to 82 grants (0.69x 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 #2,188. See the growth leaderboard.

Nissan Chemical I…

445
Pirelli Tyre S P A

445
University OF Mar…

444
Daifuku

443
YKK ◀

443
Crestron

442
Siemens Industry

442
Beta AIR

441
Shanghai Langbo C…

440

What this shows YKK holds 443 patents at rank #994, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near YKK

By rank, the assignees closest to #994 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in A44B (Buttons)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for YKK, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In A44B (Buttons), YKK ranks #1 of 276 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (56 here).

Cellco Partnership 56 Valeo Systemes d'Essuyage 56 E. &J. Gallo Winery 56 Brilliant Home Technology, Inc. 56

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (9.2 here).

Lapis Semiconductor Co., Ltd. 9.2 avg NSK Ltd. 9.2 avg Wuhan University 9.2 avg Aruze Gaming America, Inc. 9.2 avg

YKK'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

YKK Corporation patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	60	13.5%
2016	55	12.4%
2017	55	12.4%
2018	50	11.3%
2019	36	8.1%
2020	40	9.0%
2021	43	9.7%
2022	32	7.2%
2023	25	5.6%
2024	25	5.6%
2025partial year	22	5.0%

Which technologies does YKK Corporation patent most?

A44B - Buttons, Pins, Buckles, Slide Fasteners, OR THE Like 333

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 158

B29C - Shaping OR Joining OF PLASTICS; Shaping OF Material IN A Plastic State, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; After-treatment OF THE Shaped Products, e.g. Repairing 46

B29L - Indexing Scheme Associated With Subclass B29c, Relating TO Particular Articles 44

B60N - Seats Specially Adapted FOR VEHICLES; Vehicle Passenger Accommodation NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 32

B29K - Indexing Scheme Associated With Subclasses B29b, B29c OR B29d, Relating TO Moulding Materials OR TO Materials FOR ; Moulds, ; Reinforcements, Fillers OR Preformed Parts, e.g. Inserts 24

B29D - Producing Particular Articles From Plastics OR From Substances IN A Plastic State 21

A47C - CHAIRS; SOFAS; Beds 19

D10B - Indexing Scheme Associated With Sublasses OF Section D, Relating TO Textiles 19

B68G - Methods, Equipment, OR Machines FOR USE IN UPHOLSTERING; Upholstery NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 18

F16B - Devices FOR Fastening OR Securing Constructional Elements OR Machine Parts Together, e.g. Nails, Bolts, Circlips, Clamps, Clips OR WEDGES; Joints OR Jointing 17

D03D - Woven FABRICS; Methods OF WEAVING; Looms 15

A41H - Appliances OR Methods FOR Making Clothes, e.g. FOR Dress-making OR FOR Tailoring, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 13

B21D - Working OR Processing OF Sheet Metal OR Metal Tubes, Rods OR Profiles Without Essentially Removing MATERIAL; Punching Metal 13

C22C - Alloys 11

Top 15 of 77 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

YKK Corporation's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

YKK Corporation's lead technology class is A44B (Buttons, Pins, Buckles, Slide Fasteners, OR THE Like), 75.2% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore A44B
Ranked #994 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare YKK Corporation against Nissan Chemical Industries, Ltd., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 56.2/100 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.