Software Supply-Chain Security Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Software supply-chain security patents: who holds the claims and what is still open
One assignee dominates a small field. The leader holds 9 of the ranked records against a fifth-place entrant at 2 and a tenth-place entrant at just 1 — a steep drop-off rather than a broad, evenly spread field. Publications ran from zero in 2017 to a peak of 11 in 2025, with 2026 only partially represented at 2 so far. The three-year span from 2021 to 2024 shows a -100% swing as filings fell from 2 to 0; treat 2025 and 2026 as still filling in given the roughly 18-month gap between filing and publication, not as a resumption of growth.
- 1WESTGATE DATA SCIENCE LLC9
- 2VERACODE INC6
- 3WYSOPAL CHRISTOPHER J4
- 4MOYNAHAN MATTHEW P4
- 5诺斯拉普葛兰门系统公司2
See the full software supply-chain security patent landscape analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about this landscape
Who holds the most software supply-chain security patents?
Within this dataset of 29 records, one assignee leads with 9 records, well ahead of the rest of the ranking, which includes 10 assignees total. The next several entrants hold much smaller counts, down to a single record at tenth place. That gap suggests the field has one clear front-runner rather than several evenly matched competitors, though the dataset is small enough that new entrants could shift the picture quickly.
Is filing activity in this field growing or shrinking?
Filings fell from 2 in 2021 to 0 in 2024, a -100% change over that span, and 2024 is the most recent year that can be treated as complete. The apparent jump to 11 records in 2025 reflects the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication rather than a confirmed new wave of activity, so it should be read cautiously rather than as evidence of renewed growth.
What does US20210182436A1 actually cover?
This Northrop Grumman filing describes a SHIELD dielet embedded on a device component, paired with an RFID probe system and a secure server, delivering hardware identity, anti-tamper protection, encryption key generation and management, trusted platform module services and cryptographic software security. It combines hardware-level identity verification with software security services in a single claimed system, which makes it relevant to anyone building component-level authenticity checks into a supply chain.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Software Supply-Chain Security Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.