Where does ZKW Group GmbH rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), ZKW Group GmbH ranks #1,713 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 ZKW Group GmbH hold?

ZKW Group GmbH holds 239 US utility patents granted between 2016 and 2025, spanning 48 technology areas.

What is ZKW Group GmbH's Innovation Score?

ZKW Group GmbH has an Innovation Score of 60.1 out of 100 (top 3% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

Is ZKW Group GmbH's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

ZKW Group GmbH's recent grant velocity is +97% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). This indicates accelerating grant output.

What does claim depth mean for ZKW Group GmbH's patents?

ZKW Group GmbH's patents average 17.0 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 ZKW Group GmbH 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

ZKW Group GmbH

Q: What technology areas does ZKW Group GmbH focus on?

ZKW Group GmbH's top technology area is F21S (Non-portable Lighting DEVICES; Systems THEREOF; Vehicle Lighting Devices Specially Adapted FOR Vehicle Exteriors) with 213 patents. Grants appear in 48 CPC subclasses total.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 239 granted patents across 48 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2016–2025. 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: F21S (Non-portable Lighting DEVICES; Systems THEREOF; Vehicle Lighting Devices Specially Adapted FOR Vehicle Exteriors).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, ZKW ranks #1,713 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 239 patents across 48 technology areas.

#1,713
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 3%
by Innovation Score (60.1/100): 17.0
avg claims per patent: +97%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R1713 · Foreign Corporation #1,713 · 239 grants

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

GRANTS-MID 239 grants
TOP-DECILE #1,713/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Medtronic Xomed
CPC-WIDE F21S · 48 areas
INNOV-STRONG 60.1/100
CLAIMS-RICH 17.0 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-SURGE +97% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Medtronic Xomed, 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.

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Beijing University… · near

60
Directv · near

60
National Institute… · near

60
ZKW Group · this assignee

60
Square · near

60
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows ZKW's Innovation Score is 60.1/100 (top 3% 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.

Where ZKW's grants concentrate

ZKW Group GmbH is a focused PatentsView assignee: 48 CPC subclasses with 89.1% of grants classified under F21S (Non-portable Lighting DEVICES; Systems THEREOF; Vehicle Lighting Devices Specially Adapted FOR Vehicle Exteriors). Peak complete grant year is 2024 (39 grants) versus a trough of 4 in 2016. By volume, ZKW sits between Medtronic Xomed, Inc. and LX Semicon Co., Ltd..

ZKW's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, ZKW Group GmbH moved from 89 to 87 grants (0.98x 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 #1,240. See the growth leaderboard.

Medtronic Xomed

239
Nikkiso

239
Theravance Biopha…

239
Vorwerk & Interho…

239
ZKW Group ◀

239
Alipay (Hangzhou)…

238
Children's Hospit…

238
KING COM

238
LX Semicon

238

What this shows ZKW holds 239 patents at rank #1,713, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near ZKW

By rank, the assignees closest to #1,713 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in F21S (Non-portable Lighting Devices)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for ZKW, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above).

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (60 here).

National Institute FOR Materials Science 60 Beijing University OF Technology 60 Directv, LLC 60 Inc Square, Co., Ltd 60

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (17.0 here).

Axon Enterprise, Inc. 17.0 avg Siemens Healthineers AG 17.0 avg Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH 17.0 avg Liko Research & Development AB 17.0 avg

ZKW's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

60 Top 3% higher than 97% 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 · 2016–2025

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2016–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

ZKW Group GmbH patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2016	4	1.7%
2017	17	7.1%
2018	26	10.9%
2019	28	11.7%
2020	37	15.5%
2021	24	10.0%
2022	21	8.8%
2023	27	11.3%
2024	39	16.3%
2025partial year	16	6.7%

Which technologies does ZKW Group GmbH patent most?

F21S - Non-portable Lighting DEVICES; Systems THEREOF; Vehicle Lighting Devices Specially Adapted FOR Vehicle Exteriors 213

B60Q - Arrangement OF Signalling OR Lighting Devices, THE Mounting OR Supporting Thereof OR Circuits Therefor, FOR Vehicles IN General 103

F21W - Indexing Scheme Associated With Subclasses F21k, F21l, F21s and F21v, Relating TO Uses OR Applications OF Lighting Devices OR Systems 54

F21Y - Indexing Scheme Associated With Subclasses F21k, F21l, F21s and F21v, Relating TO THE Form OR THE Kind OF THE Light Sources OR OF THE Colour OF THE Light Emitted 52

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 45

F21V - Functional Features OR Details OF Lighting Devices OR Systems THEREOF; Structural Combinations OF Lighting Devices With Other Articles, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 19

H05K - Printed CIRCUITS; Casings OR Constructional Details OF Electric APPARATUS; Manufacture OF Assemblages OF Electrical Components 18

H05B - Electric HEATING; Electric Light Sources NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; Circuit Arrangements FOR Electric Light Sources, IN General 10

H01L - Semiconductor Devices NOT Covered BY Class H10 9

B60R - Vehicles, Vehicle Fittings, OR Vehicle Parts, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 9

F21K - Non-electric Light Sources Using LUMINESCENCE; Light Sources Using ELECTROCHEMILUMINESCENCE; Light Sources Using Charges OF Combustible MATERIAL; Light Sources Using Semiconductor Devices AS Light-generating ELEMENTS; Light Sources NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 7

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 7

H10H - Inorganic Light-emitting Semiconductor Devices Having Potential Barriers 6

Y02P - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies IN THE Production OR Processing OF Goods 5

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 5

Top 15 of 48 technology areas

Where it ranks

Overall rank by patents

#1,713

of 49,997 tracked assignees

Innovation Score

60.1 out of 100

View all rankings →

Data Source

USPTO PatentsView, US granted patents 2015–2025

How is Innovation Score calculated?

What to do with this data

ZKW Group GmbH's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

ZKW Group GmbH's lead technology class is F21S (Non-portable Lighting DEVICES; Systems THEREOF; Vehicle Lighting Devices Specially Adapted FOR Vehicle Exteriors), 89.1% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore F21S
Ranked #1,713 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare ZKW Group GmbH against Medtronic Xomed, Inc., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 60.1/100 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.