Mastercard has a total of 10689 patents globally, out of which 3287 have been granted. Of these 10689 patents, more than 49% patents are active. United States of America is where Mastercard has filed the maximum number of patents, followed by Singapore and Europe. Parallelly, United States of America seems to be the main focused R&D centre and also is the origin country of Mastercard.
Mastercard was founded in the year 1966. The Company provides financial transaction processing services. The Company offers payment processing services for credit and debit cards, electronic cash, automated teller machines and travelers checks.
Do read about some of the most popular patents of Mastercard which have been covered by us in this article and also you can find Mastercard patents information, the worldwide patent filing activity and its patent filing trend over the years, and many other stats over Mastercard patent portfolio.
How many patents does the founder and the CEO of Mastercard have?
The founder Wells Fargo has 1 patent and CEO Michael Miebach has 0 patent.
How many patents does Mastercard have?
Mastercard has a total of 10689 patents globally. These patents belong to 4174 unique patent families. Out of 10689 patents, 5331 patents are active.
How Many Patents did Mastercard File Every Year?
Are you wondering why there is a drop in patent filing for the last two years? It is because a patent application can take up to 18 months to get published. Certainly, it doesn’t suggest a decrease in the patent filing.
| Year of Patents Filing or Grant | Mastercard Applications Filed | Mastercard Patents Granted |
| 2023 | – | 21 |
| 2022 | 171 | 445 |
| 2021 | 448 | 520 |
| 2020 | 642 | 504 |
| 2019 | 922 | 447 |
| 2018 | 1152 | 272 |
| 2017 | 1494 | 189 |
| 2016 | 1565 | 94 |
| 2015 | 1012 | 67 |
| 2014 | 796 | 113 |
| 2013 | 550 | 82 |
How many Mastercard patents are Alive/Dead?
How Many Patents did Mastercard File in Different Countries?
Countries in which Mastercard Filed Patents
| Country | Patents |
| United States of America | 4269 |
| Singapore | 875 |
| Europe | 830 |
| Australia | 487 |
| India | 481 |
| China | 394 |
| Canada | 309 |
| United Kingdom | 207 |
| Japan | 199 |
| Brazil | 181 |
| Mexico | 126 |
| Hong Kong (S.A.R.) | 118 |
| Germany | 104 |
| Korea (South) | 90 |
| South Africa | 76 |
| Russian Federation | 71 |
| Malaysia | 38 |
| Taiwan | 34 |
| Indonesia | 31 |
| Philippines | 24 |
| Israel | 23 |
| Africa | 21 |
| Chile | 20 |
| Colombia | 18 |
| New Zealand | 15 |
| Brunei | 14 |
| Austria | 12 |
| Spain | 12 |
| Saudi Arabia | 11 |
| Poland | 9 |
| Norway | 9 |
| Denmark | 7 |
| Argentina | 5 |
| Uruguay | 5 |
| Viet Nam | 5 |
| Italy | 4 |
| Peru | 4 |
| Eurasian Patent Organization | 4 |
| Costa Rica | 3 |
| Czech Republic | 3 |
| Slovenia | 2 |
| Kenya | 2 |
| Portugal | 2 |
| Pakistan | 2 |
| Hungary | 2 |
| Egypt | 2 |
| Tunisia | 1 |
| Cyprus | 1 |
| Turkey | 1 |
| Morocco | 1 |
| Dominican Republic | 1 |
| Iceland | 1 |
Where are Research Centres of Mastercard Patents Located?
10 Best Mastercard Patents
US6460036B1 is the most popular patent in the Mastercard portfolio. It has received 1857 citations so far from companies like Transactive Solutions, Lg Electronics and Seiko Epson Corporation.
Below is the list of 10 most cited patents of Mastercard:
| Publication Number | Citation Count |
| US6460036B1 | 1857 |
| US6473500B1 | 971 |
| US20060069749A1 | 414 |
| US20080133351A1 | 378 |
| US7469151B2 | 351 |
| US7494055B2 | 328 |
| US7127236B2 | 327 |
| US20120310760A1 | 318 |
| US7177848B2 | 315 |
| US20160071112A1 | 294 |
How many inventions of other companies were rejected due to Mastercard patents?
The statistics below share strategic R&D insights. It tells the companies that were trying to protect inventions similar to Mastercard invention. They couldn’t because Mastercard had protected those before them.
Examiners at the USPTO referred 302 Mastercard patents in 9219 rejections (35 USC § 102 or 35 USC § 103 types).
The top citing companies in the Mastercard patent portfolio are Visa, IBM and Bank of America.
List of the Companies whose Patents were rejected citing Mastercard –
| Company | Number of Patent Applications that faced Rejection Citing Mastercard Patents | Number of Rejections (102 & 103) |
| Visa | 392 | 973 |
| IBM | 173 | 369 |
| Bank Of America | 159 | 346 |
| Paypal | 157 | 391 |
| Capital One Services | 156 | 344 |
| Samsung | 76 | 246 |
| 75 | 187 | |
| Advanced New Technologies | 74 | 157 |
| American Express Travel Related Services | 69 | 215 |
| Microsoft Technology | 59 | 132 |
Count of 102 and 103 Type Rejections based on Mastercard Patents
Top Mastercard Patents used in Rejecting Most Patent Applications
| Patent Number | Count of Rejected Applications |
| US20080133351A1 | 45 |
| US20110047075A1 | 27 |
| US7494055B2 | 25 |
| US20120310760A1 | 25 |
| US6460036B1 | 24 |
| US20170132626A1 | 23 |
| US9760943B2 | 21 |
| US8799087B2 | 21 |
| US8799060B2 | 20 |
| US9275215B2 | 20 |
| US20160342989A1 | 20 |
| US10963881B2 | 20 |
| US9870562B2 | 19 |
| US7575177B2 | 19 |
| US10891610B2 | 19 |
What Percentage of Mastercard US Patent Applications were Granted?
Mastercard (Excluding its subsidiaries) has filed 179 patent applications at USPTO so far (Excluding Design and PCT applications). Out of these 2886 have been granted leading to a grant rate of 48.04%.
Below are the key stats of Mastercard patent prosecution at the USPTO.
Which Law Firms Filed Most US Patents for Mastercard?
| Law Firm | Total Applications | Success Rate |
| Buckley Maschoff & Talwalkar | 99 | 52.53% |
| Grant Attorneys At Law | 35 | 34.29% |
| Mastercard International Incorporated | 35 | 45.71% |
| Mastercard Panitch Schwarze | 5 | 60.00% |
| Brumbaugh Graves Donohue & Raymond | 3 | 100.00% |
| Budzyn Ip Law Llc | 2 | 0.00% |