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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/aluminium-anodizing-and-finishing-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Coatings & Surface TreatmentAluminium Anodizing and Finishing Patents: Leaders, Filing Trends and Open Ground
- 58.9% concentration. The top 5 assignees hold 33 of the 56 records in scope — filing here is not evenly spread, it clusters hard at the top.
- Electroplating dominates the class mix. C25D accounts for 82.1% of records, meaning sealing agents, hard-anodizing electrolytes and film-forming chemistry carry the bulk of the claim density.
- 2022 was the peak filing year so far. Six records published that year against a thin trend elsewhere, and the most recent year is still undercounted because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months.
56
Published Records
59%
Top-5 Share of All Records
CN
Leading Jurisdiction
35
Active Filers Ranked
Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 56 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Field Overview
What this dataset covers
This landscape draws on 56 published records matching aluminium anodizing and anodic oxide film chemistry, filtered to documents that address oxide thickness, sealing quality, dye fastness, hard anodizing, energy consumption or alloy sensitivity in their claims. The scope is narrow by design: it captures the process and formulation layer of anodizing rather than the broader aluminium-alloy or coatings literature. Patent families, not raw document counts, are the fairer unit for reading concentration, and the assignee ranking here is built on families.
Filing is led by chemical-process specialists rather than downstream device makers, and receiving-office activity is led by China, with Japan, Europe and the United States trailing behind. The technology composition skews heavily toward electroplating and electroforming chemistry, with smaller pockets touching pumps, bearings, seals and even food-contact and sterilising applications where anodized aluminium surfaces are used as a substrate.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015–2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Aluminium Anodizing and Finishing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Numbers
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 56 records: activity over time, and where the claims sit across IPC subclasses. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC codes, the composition shares add up to more than 100% of the record total.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings start at 1 in 2017, rise to a peak of 6 in 2022, and taper toward the present. The 2026 figure is partial and should not be read as a decline — publication lag means recent filings are still arriving.
IPC subclass composition
C25D (electroplating and electroforming) covers 82.1% of the 56 records, confirming this is fundamentally an electrochemical-process field. F04C, F16C and F16J appear at single-digit shares, marking adjacent mechanical applications rather than core anodizing chemistry.
Shares are the percentage of the 56 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Aluminium Anodizing and Finishing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Aluminium Anodizing and Finishing with Eureka
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Representative filing and most-cited records
Representative Filing
Lightfastness improver for anodic oxide film of dyed aluminum or aluminum alloy
OKUNO CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES CO., LTD.
Filed by Okuno Chemical Industries, this WO2022186320A1 application describes a surface treatment agent containing a phosphoric species, a phosphate, or a phosphorus-bearing chelating agent, applied to dyed anodic oxide film to improve dye fastness against light exposure.Published 2022-09-09.
Most-cited records in this dataset
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CN101812713A | 一种铝合金阳极氧化膜封闭剂的制备方法 | 32 |
| 2 | CN102888641A | 铝合金硬质阳极氧化电解液及方法 | 25 |
| 3 | CN109440163A | 一种铝及铝合金阳极氧化膜无镍封孔剂及其应用 | 22 |
| 4 | CN105063721A | 镁合金阳极氧化电解液及该电解液制备阳极氧化膜的方法 | 12 |
| 5 | US5439712A | Method for making a composite aluminum article | 10 |
| 6 | CN102653877A | 镁合金阳极氧化处理的电解液及其处理方法 | 9 |
| 7 | US6368483B1 | Aluminium workpiece | 8 |
| 8 | JP1989218607A | Filtration membrane and its production | 8 |
| 9 | CN110685002A | 一种铝合金表面处理方法 | 6 |
| 10 | CN102888643A | 铝合金硬质阳极氧化电解液及方法 | 6 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and favour older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial relevance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Aluminium Anodizing and Finishing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the data means for filing decisions
Three patterns stand out once the records are grouped by assignee, class and geography.
Concentration
58.9%
of 56 records held by top 5 assignees
Filing is concentrated, not fragmented
With the top 5 assignees holding 33 of 56 records and the top 10 holding 41 (73.2%), this is a field where a handful of chemical-process specialists have built dense claim positions around sealing and hard-anodizing formulations. New entrants filing broad process claims in C25D are likely to run into prior art quickly.
Based on the 35-company ranked list.
Class skew
82.1%
of records classified under C25D
The chemistry, not the hardware, is claimed
Electroplating and electroforming (C25D) dominates the IPC mix by a wide margin over any mechanical-application class. This suggests the commercially defensible ground has been the electrolyte, sealant and dye-fixing chemistry rather than tooling or fixture design.
Shares sum above 100% because records carry multiple IPC codes.
Geography
China 21
of records by receiving office, ahead of Japan, EPO, US
Receiving-office activity leads from China
China accounts for the largest share of receiving-office filings, with Japan, the European Patent Office, the United States, Austria and Canada following at smaller volumes. This split points to where enforcement and freedom-to-operate checks matter most for anyone manufacturing at scale.
Counts are by receiving office, not by applicant nationality.
Collaboration
3
co-assignee pairs across the dataset
Co-filing is rare and narrow
Only three co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, and the strongest pairing links two related corporate entities rather than independent partners. Cross-company joint filing is not a common route to entry in this field.
Strongest pair recorded 7 shared filings.
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to aluminium anodizing and finishing, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Aluminium Anodizing and Finishing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Competitive Landscape
Leaders, momentum and open ground
The ranked list covers 35 companies scored by family count; it is the complete set the data endpoint returns, not a top-50 or top-100 cut. Recent-year momentum is thin across the board, consistent with a field where most of the claim space was staked out earlier in the period.
Leader
11
records held by the top-ranked assignee
A clear leader at the top of the ranking
The leading assignee holds 11 of the 56 records, well ahead of fifth place at 3 and tenth place at 1 — a steep drop-off that marks this as a leader-plus-long-tail field rather than an evenly matched multi-player race.
Leader is a Japanese specialty-chemicals filer.
Long tail
35
companies in the full ranked list
Most ranked assignees hold very few records
Beyond the top ten, the ranking thins quickly to single-filing entrants. That long tail is where opportunistic or defensive filings sit, rather than sustained R&D programmes.
Tenth place holds 1 record.
Momentum
0 or 1
latest-year filings across tracked leaders
Recent-year activity has gone quiet
Every tracked leading assignee shows zero or at most one filing in the latest year, including the current volume leader. That is consistent with publication lag rather than a genuine pullback, but it means recent competitive moves are not yet visible in the public record.
Recent-year counts will revise upward as filings publish.
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Okuno Chemical Industries Co., Ltd. | 1 | — |
| Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| ALCAN RES & DEV LTD | 0 | — |
| Mitac Precision Technology (Kunshan) Corp. | 0 | — |
| JTEKT Corporation | 0 | — |
| Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Guangdong Xingfa Aluminium Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Chang Hyung Soo | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Aluminium Anodizing and Finishing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Next Steps
Where to take this from here
The dataset points to a field with a concentrated core and several thinner adjacent branches worth a closer look before committing R&D or freedom-to-operate budget.
Check freedom-to-operate against the sealing and dye-fastness core
With C25D covering 82.1% of records and the top assignees holding dense positions in sealant and hard-anodizing chemistry, any new formulation claim should be checked against the leading filers' portfolios before drafting.
Explore the full assignee rankingLook at the mechanical-application fringe
F04C, F16C and F16J classes show anodized surfaces used in pumps, bearings and seals at low filing density. That gap may be a more open route to a defensible claim than the core electrolyte chemistry.
Review the technology composition breakdownTrack the recent-year gap as publications catch up
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the apparent quiet in the latest year is not yet a reliable signal. Revisit the trend once another filing cycle has published.
Monitor filing trend updatesSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Aluminium Anodizing and Finishing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about aluminium anodizing patents
Within this 56-record dataset, one Japanese specialty-chemicals filer leads with 11 records, well ahead of the rest of the ranked field. The top 5 assignees together account for 33 records, or 58.9% of all records in scope, and the top 10 account for 41, or 73.2%. Beyond that, the ranking of 35 companies thins quickly into single-filing entrants, so the field is best described as a clear leader with a long tail rather than a crowded multi-way contest.
The overwhelming majority of claims sit in IPC class C25D, covering electroplating and electroforming chemistry, at 82.1% of the 56 records. This reflects a field centred on electrolyte formulation, sealing agents and dye-fixing treatments rather than on anodizing hardware or tooling. Smaller pockets of activity touch mechanical applications such as pumps, bearings and seals, plus a handful of records on food-contact and sterilising uses of anodized surfaces.
The filing trend runs from a single record in 2017 up to a peak of 6 in 2022, with activity tapering since. It is not safe to read that tapering as a genuine slowdown, because publication typically lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent years in any patent dataset are understated. A clearer read on momentum will only be possible once another filing cycle has published.
Relative to the dense C25D core, several adjacent branches carry very few records: energy-efficient sealing at lower processing temperatures, alloy-sensitivity handling for high-silicon substrates, food-contact compliance for anodized surfaces, and integration of anodic film with rotary-piston pump seals all show thin filing density. These are not guaranteed to be open — a full freedom-to-operate search is still needed — but they are under-claimed relative to the sealing and hard-anodizing chemistry that dominates the dataset.
WO2022186320A1, filed by Okuno Chemical Industries and published 2022-09-09, covers a surface treatment agent for improving the light fastness of dyed anodic oxide film on aluminium or its alloys. The claimed agent contains a phosphoric species, a phosphate, or a chelating agent with phosphorus in its structure, applied as a post-dye treatment step. It is a formulation and process claim around dye-fastness improvement specifically, not a claim over anodizing or dyeing in general, so it constrains treatment-agent chemistry in that niche rather than the broader anodizing process.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Aluminium Anodizing and Finishing covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company's registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.