PlainPatent

CPC technology class · H04

H04M - Telephonic Communication

Telephonic communication. 49,631 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

49,631
US patents granted
H04
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
-19%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Telephonic Communication ranks #36 of 670 CPC technology areas - 49,631 US patents granted since 2015, with filing down 19% over five years.

#36
of 670 CPC technology areas
49,631
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Samsung
leading assignee (4,133)
-19%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (4,133 patents)

CPC subclass H04M - TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION - covers 49,631 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class H04 (ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in H04M is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. leads with 4,133 patents, followed by Apple Inc. at 2,103 grants and LG Electronics Inc. at 1,342.

Filing activity in H04M is down 19% over the past five years versus 2015-2019, a relatively steady filing pace. All counts come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is H04M innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in H04M, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 19% versus 2015–2019.

2,0003,0004,0005,0006,000 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 2,292

Who leads H04M?

The 12 most active assignees in TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Samsung is the most active filer in H04M, holding 4,133 of the 49,631 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 H04M
Rank Company Patents in H04M
#1 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 4,133
#2 Apple Inc. 2,103
#3 LG Electronics Inc. 1,342
#4 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. 1,077
#5 International Business Machines Corporation 999
#6 Google Llc 969
#7 AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.p. 952
#8 Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc 904
#9 Blackberry Limited 596
#10 SONY Group Corporation 576
#11 Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd. 546
#12 Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ) 512
#13 Kyocera Corporation 487
#14 Qualcomm Incorporated 484
#15 T-mobile USA, Inc. 471
#16 Verizon Patent And Licensing Inc. 463
#17 Amazon Technologies, Inc. 437
#18 Avaya Inc. 409
#19 Nokia Technologies OY 390
#20 United Services Automobile Association (usaa) 325

About This Class

CPC subclass H04M belongs to class H04.

49,631 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.

← All Technology Classes Technology Rankings →

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading H04M assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 H04M assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in H04M. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Top 14 H04M assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in H04M. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 5101520253035 010002000300040005000 Patents in H04M Avg claims / patent (company-wide) SamsungAppleLgHuaweiInternational Busines…GoogleAt&T Intellectual Pro…Microsoft Technology…BlackberrySony GroupGuangdong Oppo Mobile…Telefonaktiebolaget L…KyoceraQualcomm Incorporated
Top 14 H04M assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in H04M. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class H04M?
CPC subclass H04M covers TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION. It belongs to CPC class H04 (ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE), with 49,631 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in H04M?
49,631 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass H04M between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in H04M?
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. leads H04M with 4,133 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for H04M 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., H04) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like H04M provide finer granularity within that category. PlainPatent organizes data at the subclass level (4-character codes) for the most useful view of technology domains.

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

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.