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CPC technology class · G09

G09C — Ciphering OR Deciphering Apparatus FOR Cryptographic OR O…

Ciphering or deciphering apparatus for cryptographic or other purposes involving the need for secrecy. 2,112 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

2,112
US patents granted
G09
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+14%
5-yr velocity
Top assignee: Intel Corporation (141 patents)

CPC subclass G09C — CIPHERING OR DECIPHERING APPARATUS FOR CRYPTOGRAPHIC OR OTHER PURPOSES INVOLVING THE NEED FOR SECRECY — covers 2,112 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records. This subclass sits within the broader CPC class G09 (EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS), one of roughly 250 top-level technology categories in the Cooperative Patent Classification system jointly maintained by the USPTO and the European Patent Office. At the subclass level, four-character codes like G09C give the most practical resolution for tracking a specific technology domain without losing sight of adjacent filings. Every grant here has been classified by a USPTO examiner based on the technical disclosure in the patent specification.

The competitive landscape in G09C is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Intel Corporation leads with 141 patents, followed by ICTK Holdings Co., Ltd. at 44 grants and STMicroelectronics (Rousset) SAS at 828. Concentration at the top of the leaderboard indicates whether this technology area is dominated by a handful of incumbents or fragmented across many filers — a useful signal for investors evaluating competitive moats and for product teams mapping freedom-to-operate risk.

Filing trajectory matters as much as static counts. The yearly series on this page plots grants from 2015 through 2025, highlighting whether innovation in G09C is accelerating, plateauing, or cooling. Technology areas with rising post-2020 activity often reflect emerging markets or new platform shifts, while declining filings can signal mature domains where incremental improvement has slowed. Researchers, licensing professionals, and competitive-intelligence teams use these patterns — together with the top-assignee distribution — to decide where to invest, where to license, and where to avoid entanglement. All counts on this page come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is G09C innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in G09C, 2015–2025 — recent five years are up 14% versus 2015–2019.

50100150200250300 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 98

Who leads G09C?

The 12 most active assignees in CIPHERING OR DECIPHERING APPARATUS FOR CRYPTOGRAPHIC OR OTHER PURPOSES INVOLVING THE NEED FOR SECRECY — wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Intel is the most active filer in G09C, holding 141 of the 2,112 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

Source USPTO PatentsView — granted utility patents As of 2015–2025 grant years
View data table
Top patent holders in CPC subclass G09C
Rank Company Patents in G09C
#1 NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION 3,279
#2 ICTK Holdings Co., Ltd. 44
#3 STMicroelectronics (Rousset) SAS 828
#4 Cryptography Research, Inc. 172
#5 Altera Corporation 1,196
#6 Alibaba Group Holding Limited 2,299
#7 Lexmark International, Inc. 737
#8 Data I/O Corporation 29
#9 Enveil, Inc. 25
#10 ESHARD 12
#11 MACRONIX INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD. 1,381
#12 Equity Shift, Inc. 34
#13 Advanced New Technologies Co., Ltd. 1,430
#14 McAfee, LLC 906
#15 CoPilot Ventures Fund III LLC 23
#16 CORD3 INNOVATION INC. 9
#17 Visa International Service Association 2,222
#18 CA, Inc. 1,081
#19 ALPVISION S.A. 13
#20 Ballet Global Inc. 9

About This Class

CPC subclass G09C belongs to class G09.

2,112 patents were granted in this class between 2015 and 2025.

20 companies actively patent in this space.

Classification System

Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) is a hierarchical patent classification system used by the USPTO and EPO.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class G09C?
CPC subclass G09C covers CIPHERING OR DECIPHERING APPARATUS FOR CRYPTOGRAPHIC OR OTHER PURPOSES INVOLVING THE NEED FOR SECRECY. It belongs to CPC class G09 (EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS). The Cooperative Patent Classification is a hierarchical system used by the USPTO and European Patent Office to categorize patents by technology.
How many patents have been filed in G09C?
2,112 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass G09C between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in G09C?
Intel Corporation leads G09C with 141 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for G09C collected?
Patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It covers all US granted utility patents and assigns CPC codes based on the technology described in each patent.
What is the difference between CPC class and subclass?
A CPC class (e.g., G09) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like G09C provide finer granularity within that category. PlainPatent organizes data at the subclass level (4-character codes) for the most useful view of technology domains.

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Patent Moat Analysis

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Intel

The leading filer in G09C — full patent portfolio
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Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView — official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent Editorial