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.
Spotify’s Innovations across Technologies in Last 5 Years
Get detail report on Spotify’s patents filed in last 5 years across various technologies
Spotify has a total of 1124 patents globally, out of which 649 have been granted. Of these 1124 patents, more than 78% patents are active. United States of America is where Spotify has filed the maximum number of patents, followed by Europe (EPO) and Germany. Parallelly, United States of America seems to be the main focused R&D centre and also Sweden is the origin country of Spotify.
Spotify was founded in 2006. Spotify is a commercial music streaming service that offers a variety of digital content from numerous record labels and artists. It allows users to listen to music online with some restrictions.
Do read about some of the most popular patents of Spotify which have been covered by us in this article and also you can find Spotify patents information, the worldwide patent filing activity and its patent filing trend over the years, and many other stats over Spotify patent portfolio.
How many patents does Spotify have?
Spotify has a total of 1124 patents globally. These patents belong to 516 unique patent families. Out of 1124 patents, 887 patents are active.
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.
| Year of Patents Filing or Grant | Spotify Applications Filed | Spotify Patents Granted |
| 2024 | 10 | 26 |
| 2023 | 53 | 59 |
| 2022 | 89 | 126 |
| 2021 | 113 | 103 |
| 2020 | 139 | 91 |
| 2019 | 133 | 68 |
| 2018 | 106 | 71 |
| 2017 | 112 | 56 |
| 2016 | 120 | 26 |
| 2015 | 112 | 11 |
| 2014 | 59 | 2 |
How many Spotify patents are Alive/Dead?
Worldwide Patents
How Many Patents did Spotify File in Different Countries?
Countries in which Spotify Filed Patents
| Country | Patent |
| United States of America | 733 |
| Europe (EPO) | 212 |
| Germany | 37 |
| United Kingdom | 28 |
| Korea (South) | 13 |
| Japan | 12 |
| China | 11 |
| Austria | 3 |
| Hong Kong (S.A.R.) | 3 |
| Slovenia | 2 |
| Hungary | 2 |
| Spain | 2 |
| Sweden | 2 |
| Denmark | 2 |
| Croatia | 2 |
| Lithuania | 2 |
| Canada | 1 |
| Poland | 1 |
| Brazil | 1 |
| Serbia | 1 |
| Portugal | 1 |
| India | 1 |
| Norway | 1 |
Where are Research Centers of Spotify Patents Located?
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, Amper Music.
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 |
| USD824924S1 | 46 |
| US20140289241A1 | 46 |
| US8898766B2 | 42 |
| USD815127S1 | 37 |
| USD781906S1 | 37 |
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 invention. They couldn’t because Spotify had protected those before them.
Examiners at the USPTO referred 128 Spotify patents in 614 rejections (35 USC § 102 or 35 USC § 103 types).
The top citing companies in the Spotify patent portfolio are Google, TiVo Corporation and Apple.
List of the Companies whose Patents were rejected citing Spotify –
| Company | Number of Patent Applications that faced Rejection Citing Spotify Patents | Number of Rejections (102 & 103) |
| 17 | 31 | |
| TiVo Corporation | 15 | 27 |
| Apple | 13 | 29 |
| Microsoft | 11 | 22 |
| Meta | 10 | 25 |
| Chase Bank | 9 | 14 |
| At&T | 8 | 13 |
| Rovi Guides Inc | 7 | 11 |
| LG Electronics | 7 | 9 |
| Samsung | 7 | 10 |
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 |
| US9319445B2 | 18 |
| US9043850B2 | 18 |
| US10620797B2 | 10 |
| US8073854B2 | 9 |
| US9380059B2 | 8 |
| US9883284B2 | 8 |
| US20140289241A1 | 8 |
| US9063640B2 | 8 |
| US8280539B2 | 8 |
| US9787687B2 | 7 |
| US9529888B2 | 7 |
| US8898766B2 | 7 |
| US9195383B2 | 6 |
| US10440075B2 | 5 |
| US9402093B2 | 5 |
What Percentage of Spotify US Patent Applications were Granted?
Spotify (Excluding its subsidiaries) has filed 497 patent applications at USPTO so far (Excluding Design and PCT applications). Out of these 354 have been granted leading to a grant rate of 89.62%.
Below are the key stats of Spotify patent prosecution at the USPTO.
Which Law Firms Filed Most US Patents for Spotify?
| Law Firm | Total Applications | Success Rate |
| Merchant & Gould Pc | 252 | 95.79% |
| Morgan Lewis & Bockius Llp | 150 | 91.07% |
| Tucker Ellis Llp | 91 | 74.16% |
| Maginot Moore & Beck Llp | 1 | 100.00% |
| Merchant & Gould | 1 | 0% |
| Moore & Van Allen Pllc | 1 | 100.00% |
| Sbpj Scienbizip Pc | 1 | 0% |
One more thing, We have converted this entire analysis in PDF form that you can download and save for later reading (or sharing with your friends). You can download it using the form below: