Where does ZF Automotive UK Limited rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), ZF Automotive UK Limited ranks #5,419 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 ZF Automotive UK Limited hold?

ZF Automotive UK Limited holds 64 US utility patents granted between 2020 and 2025, spanning 24 technology areas.

What is ZF Automotive UK Limited's Innovation Score?

ZF Automotive UK Limited has an Innovation Score of 47.9 out of 100 (top 17% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does ZF Automotive UK Limited focus on?

ZF Automotive UK Limited's top technology area is B62D (Motor VEHICLES; Trailers) with 43 patents, ranking #83 of 1,368 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 24 CPC subclasses total.

Is ZF Automotive UK Limited's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Insufficient historical data is available to calculate a velocity trend for ZF Automotive UK Limited.

What does claim depth mean for ZF Automotive UK Limited's patents?

ZF Automotive UK Limited's patents average 13.8 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 ZF Automotive UK Limited 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

ZF Automotive UK Limited

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 64 granted patents across 24 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2020–2025. 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: B62D (Motor VEHICLES; Trailers).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, ZF ranks #5,419 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 64 patents across 24 technology areas.

#5,419
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 17%
by Innovation Score (47.9/100): 13.8
avg claims per patent

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R5419 · Foreign Corporation #5,419 · 64 grants

GRANTS-SMALL · UPPER-Q · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-PAR · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-FRNCORP · SPAN-YRS · BOOK-RICH

GRANTS-SMALL 64 grants
UPPER-Q #5,419/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH iLumisys
CPC-FOCUS B62D · 24 areas
INNOV-PAR 47.9/100
CLAIMS-RICH 13.8 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
SPAN-YRS 2020–2025 · 6y
BOOK-RICH 9/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: iLumisys, 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 ZF’s 47.9 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 14.4 pts (30%) Velocity 7.9 pts (16%) Breadth 17.3 pts (36%) Claim depth 8.3 pts (17%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Corning Cable Systems · near

48
Geron · near

48
Magneti Marelli S p A · near

48
ZF Automotive UK · this assignee

48
Uniwersytet… · near

48
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows ZF's Innovation Score is 47.9/100 (top 17% 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 ZF?

Each dot is one of ZF’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). ZF’s own 13.8 claims/patent is at or below the 16.1 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

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

Where ZF's grants concentrate

ZF Automotive UK Limited is a focused PatentsView assignee: 24 CPC subclasses with 67.2% of grants classified under B62D (Motor VEHICLES; Trailers). Peak complete grant year is 2021 (20 grants) versus a trough of 5 in 2024. By volume, ZF sits between Varta Microbattery GMBH and Asapp, Inc..

ZF's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, ZF Automotive UK Limited moved from 27 to 32 grants (1.19x the prior three-year total, a multiple, not a CAGR). See the growth leaderboard.

Varta Microbattery

64
Vatech

64
W W Grainger

64
X-fab Semiconduct…

64
Zazzle

64
Zealand Pharma A/S

64
ilumisys

64
ZF Automotive UK ◀

64
Asapp

63

What this shows ZF holds 64 patents at rank #5,416, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near ZF

By rank, the assignees closest to #5,416 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in B62D (Motor Vehicles)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for ZF, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In B62D (Motor Vehicles), ZF ranks #83 of 1,368 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (48 here).

Magneti Marelli S.p.A. 48 Geron Corporation 48 Corning Cable Systems LLC 48 Uniwersytet Jagiellonski 48

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (13.8 here).

eYs3D Microelectronics, Co. 13.8 avg Kuraray Noritake Dental Inc. 13.8 avg UNIVERSITÉ D'aix-marseille 13.8 avg Siemens Aktiengesellschaft 13.8 avg

ZF's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

48 Top 17% higher than 83% 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 · 2020–2025

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2020–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

ZF Automotive UK Limited patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2020	7	10.9%
2021	20	31.3%
2022	18	28.1%
2023	9	14.1%
2024	5	7.8%
2025partial year	5	7.8%

Which technologies does ZF Automotive UK Limited patent most?

B62D - Motor VEHICLES; Trailers 43

H02P - Control OR Regulation OF Electric Motors, Electric Generators OR Dynamo-electric CONVERTERS; Controlling Transformers, Reactors OR Choke Coils 16

F16H - Gearing 13

H02K - Dynamo-electric Machines 10

F16D - Couplings FOR Transmitting ROTATION; CLUTCHES; Brakes 7

G01D - Measuring NOT Specially Adapted FOR A Specific VARIABLE; Arrangements FOR Measuring TWO OR More Variables NOT Covered IN A Single Other SUBCLASS; Tariff Metering APPARATUS; Measuring OR Testing NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 5

H02M - Apparatus FOR Conversion Between AC AND AC, Between AC AND DC, OR Between DC AND DC, AND FOR USE With Mains OR Similar Power Supply SYSTEMS; Conversion OF DC OR AC Input Power Into Surge Output POWER; Control OR Regulation Thereof 4

F16C - SHAFTS; Flexible SHAFTS; Elements OR Crankshaft MECHANISMS; Rotary Bodies Other Than Gearing ELEMENTS; Bearings 4

B60T - Vehicle Brake Control Systems OR Parts THEREOF; Brake Control Systems OR Parts Thereof, IN General ; Arrangement OF Braking Elements ON Vehicles IN GENERAL; Portable Devices FOR Preventing Unwanted Movement OF VEHICLES; Vehicle Modifications TO Facilitate Cooling OF Brakes 3

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 2

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

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 1

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 1

B60R - Vehicles, Vehicle Fittings, OR Vehicle Parts, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 1

B60K - Arrangement OR Mounting OF Propulsion Units OR OF Transmissions IN VEHICLES; Arrangement OR Mounting OF Plural Diverse Prime-movers IN VEHICLES; Auxiliary Drives FOR VEHICLES; Instrumentation OR Dashboards FOR VEHICLES; Arrangements IN Connection With Cooling, AIR Intake, GAS Exhaust OR Fuel Supply 1

Top 15 of 24 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

ZF Automotive UK Limited's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

ZF Automotive UK Limited's lead technology class is B62D (Motor VEHICLES; Trailers), 67.2% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore B62D
Ranked #5,419 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare ZF Automotive UK Limited against Varta Microbattery GMBH, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 47.9/100 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.