With over 356 million monthly active users and 158 million paying subscribers, Spotify is the world’s largest music streaming service. Founded in 2006 in Sweden, Spotify is available in 178 countries and has a library of 90 million songs.
Below are 14 key statistics and insights on Spotify patents. Don’t forget to share your thoughts on analysis in the comments.
How many patents does Spotify have?
Spotify has a total of 752 patents globally. These patents belong to 275 unique patent families. Out of 752 patents, 614 patents are active.
How many Spotify patents are Alive/Dead?
Worldwide Patents
Patent Families
How Many Patents did Spotify 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.
How Many Patents did Spotify File in Different Countries?
What Technologies are Covered by Spotify Patents?
The chart below distributes patents filed by Spotify in different countries on the basis of the technology protected in patents. It also represents the markets where Spotify thinks it’s important to protect particular technology inventions.
Where are Research Centers of Spotify Located?
R&D Focus: How Spotify Research Focus Changed Over the Years?
10 Best Spotify Patents
US20160260140A1 is the most popular patent in the Spotify portfolio. It has received 80 citations so far from companies like Sonos Inc, Amper Music Inc, and Shutterstock Inc.
Below is the list of 10 most cited patents of Spotify:
| Publication Number | Citation Count |
| US20160260140A1 | 80 |
| USD830375S1 | 73 |
| USD815130S1 | 59 |
| US9934785B1 | 58 |
| USD815128S1 | 48 |
| US20140289241A1 | 46 |
| USD824924S1 | 46 |
| US8898766B2 | 42 |
| USD781906S1 | 37 |
| USD815127S1 | 37 |
Which Companies are using Spotify Patents to Advance their Research?
If patents or patents from a particular technology area of a company receive a lot of citations, it implies that the technology is being followed and incrementally innovated by the citing companies. It also indicates that citing companies are working on similar and closely related technologies.
The top-cited technologies in the Spotify patent portfolio are Media Streaming, Recommendation System & User Interface. Google, Apple, and Facebook as the top forward citing assignees
| Company | Number of Patents |
| 14 | |
| Apple | 7 |
| 6 | |
| Microsoft | 6 |
| Sony | 6 |
| Amazon | 5 |
| AT&T | 5 |
| Samsung | 4 |
| Verizon Patent And Licensing Inc | 4 |
| IBM | 3 |
How many inventions of other companies were rejected due to Spotify patents?
The statistics below share strategic R&D insights. It tells the companies that were trying to protect inventions similar to Spotify. They couldn’t because Spotify had protected those before them.
Examiners at the USPTO used 82 Spotify patents in 403 rejections (35 USC § 102 or 35 USC § 103 types). Below is the distribution of the number of blocked patent applications vs the technology cluster of Spotify patents.
Count of 102 and 103 Type Rejections based on Spotify Patents
Top Spotify Patents used in Rejecting Most Patent Applications
| Patent Number | Count of Rejected Applications |
| US9043850B2 | 18 |
| US9319445B2 | 14 |
| US8073854B2 | 9 |
| US10620797B2 | 8 |
| US8280539B2 | 8 |
| US9195383B2 | 7 |
| US20140289241A1 | 7 |
| US10440075B2 | 6 |
| US9883284B2 | 6 |
| US9380059B2 | 6 |
| US9529888B2 | 6 |
| US9063640B2 | 6 |
| US8898766B2 | 6 |
| US9246967B2 | 5 |
| US20190327139A1 | 5 |
What Percentage of Spotify US Patent Applications were Granted?
Spotify (Excluding its subsidiaries) has filed 343 patent applications at USPTO so far (Excluding Design and PCT applications). Out of these 217 have been granted leading to a grant rate of 88.93%.
Below are the key stats of Spotify’s patent prosecution at the USPTO.
Which Law Firms Filed Most US Patents for Spotify?
| Law Firm | Total Applications | Success Rate |
| Merchant & Gould | 166 | 96.15% |
| Morgan Lewis & Bockius | 89 | 90.77% |
| Tucker Ellis | 87 | 77.03% |
| Moore & Van Allen | 1 | 100.00% |
Technology Analysis By: Navjyot Singh, Insights;Gate Team
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