Anti-Reflective and Hardcoat Films Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
- Filing already peaked. 2017 was the high-water mark at 94 filings; by the 2022 midpoint annual volume had fallen to 23, and the most recent full years sit well below that — this is a maturing claim space, not a growing one.
- Optical elements dominate the IPC mix. G02B appears in 1,794 of 1,885 records, with layered-product claims under B32B a distant second — most of the contest is happening inside optical-element subclaims, not coating chemistry.
- Japan is the filing center of gravity. 576 records route through the Japanese office versus 435 in the US and 334 at the EPO, reflecting where the display and lens supply chain actually sits.
Filing growth compares 2021 (46 records) with 2024 (24) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 1,885 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Anti-reflective and hardcoat films sit at the intersection of optics and coatings: a thin functional layer — often built around a moth eye structure or graded refractive-index stack — applied to a substrate to cut glare and resist abrasion. The dataset behind this page pulls records where the claims or abstract combine anti-reflective or hardcoat film language with technical terms like refractive index matching, scratch resistance, haze, or wet coating, filtered to the optics, coatings and polymer-processing IPC classes.
Coverage runs from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off. Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the last one to two years in any chart will always understate true filing activity — treat the tail as a floor, not a ceiling.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,885 families: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim weight.
A market past its filing peak
Annual filings rose to 94 in 2017, then eroded — the 2022 midpoint stood at 23 and the curve has kept sliding since. That pattern reads as a technology where the core claim space has already been staked out, not one still being explored.
Optical elements carry the claim weight
G02B (optical elements & systems) touches 1,794 of the 1,885 records — nearly the entire corpus. B32B (layered products, 821) and C09D (coatings, 445) trail well behind, and G09F (displays and signage, 155) marks the smallest slice, suggesting most disputes over inventive step will turn on optical-element language rather than the coating formulation itself.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,885 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Anti-Reflective and Hardcoat Films with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about anti-reflective and hardcoat films and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited prior art in this space
US10399309B2 — Antireflection film, polarizing plate, cover glass, and image display device, and method for producing antireflection film
An antireflection film includes a substrate and an antireflection layer formed with a composition containing metal oxide particles having surface hydroxyl groups as particles for forming a moth eye structure, together with two compounds having (meth)acryloyl groups. The antireflection layer's irregular shape is defined by a ratio between the distance separating peaks of adjacent convex portions and a related distance, giving the surface its anti-glare and low-reflectance properties.Filed by FUJIFILM CORPORATION, published 2019-09-03.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JP1988141001A | Production of plastic lens | 289 |
| 2 | US5770306A | Antireflection film containing ultrafine particles, polarizing plate and liquid crystal display device | 251 |
| 3 | US20030012936A1 | Removable antireflection film | 249 |
| 4 | US20070146887A1 | Antireflection film, polarizing plate, method for producing them, liquid cryatal display element, liquid crys… | 222 |
| 5 | US6800378B2 | Antireflection films for use with displays | 181 |
| 6 | JP1998147739A | Composition for forming antireflection film | 165 |
| 7 | US6379788B2 | Antireflection film | 159 |
| 8 | JP1999038202A | Antireflection film and image display device using that | 147 |
| 9 | US5909314A | Optical functional materials and process for producing the same | 128 |
| 10 | JP2008310286A | Optical film containing polyrotaxane, antireflection film, method for manufacturing the antireflection film, … | 126 |
Citation counts are a function of a record's age and searchability, not a signal of current commercial relevance — the oldest entries here predate the moth eye structure boom by decades.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers say about this field
Four read-throughs from the filing trend, IPC mix and receiving-office split.
A field past its filing peak
Volume peaked in 2017 and has declined through the 2022 midpoint (23 filings) to the present. New entrants face a corpus where the foundational claim territory — moth eye geometry, refractive-index stacking, basic hardcoat chemistry — is already occupied.
Optics, not coatings, is where claims collide
G02B dominates the composition at 1,794 records against 821 for B32B and 445 for C09D. Differentiating a new filing likely means engineering around optical-element language rather than proposing a novel coating formulation alone.
Japan anchors the filing map
Japan leads with 576 records, ahead of the US (435) and EPO (334); China (110) and Taiwan (78) trail well behind despite being major display-panel manufacturing hubs, hinting at where enforcement risk is lower for now.
Even the largest filers have gone quiet
Every assignee tracked for recent-year momentum — including FUJIFILM Corporation and Corning Incorporated — shows zero filings in the latest year, several with a full year-over-year drop. That is consistent with the broader filing decline, not a sign any single firm has exited.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to anti-reflective and hardcoat films, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space
The assignee ranking spans 1,885 families with ten identified co-assignee pairs, concentrated around a small set of Japanese optics and film manufacturers plus a handful of glass and chemicals firms.
Named-inventor pairings cluster around one filer
The strongest co-assignee links — FUJIFILM Corporation with individual named inventors YONEYAMA HIROYUKI (6) and NORO MASAKI (4) — all sit inside a single corporate family, suggesting a stable internal R&D team rather than cross-company joint development.
No active leader in the most recent year
LG Chem, Ltd., FUJIFILM Corporation, HOYA Corporation, Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. and Corning Incorporated all register zero filings in the latest tracked year. That flatness across the leaderboard, not just at the margins, is the strongest evidence the core technology has stabilized.
Filing strategy still centers on Japan
With 576 records routed through the Japanese office against 119 via WIPO/PCT, much of this portfolio was built for domestic protection first, with international filing treated as a secondary step rather than a global-first strategy.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| LG Chem, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| FUJIFILM Corporation | 0 | -100% |
| FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation | 0 | — |
| HOYA Corporation | 0 | — |
| Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Corning Incorporated | 0 | -100% |
| TOPPAN Holdings Inc. | 0 | — |
| AGC Inc. | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a mature, Japan-centered claim space with thin activity at the edges — here is where a deeper look pays off.
Map the moth eye sub-claims directly
Most of the corpus's citation weight sits on moth eye and refractive-index-matching structures. A claim chart against the top-cited records will show exactly how much room is left in that specific geometry.
Explore moth eye claims in EurekaCheck the quiet years for real activity
Zero recorded filings in the latest year does not mean zero pending applications — publication lag means some of that activity simply has not surfaced yet. Screening pending applications closes that gap.
Screen pending filings in EurekaWatch the under-claimed branches
Flexible-substrate adhesion and signage-integrated anti-glare stacks show thinner overlap with the dominant clusters. Either could be where the next wave of filings concentrates.
Track white space in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
No — filing volume peaked in 2017 at 94 records and has declined steadily since, with the 2022 midpoint at 23 and the most recent years lower still. This is a maturing field where the foundational claim territory around moth eye structures and refractive-index stacking is largely staked out. New entrants should expect to compete on narrower improvements rather than broad structural claims.
Japanese optics and film manufacturers dominate the assignee list, reflecting Japan's 576 filings versus 435 in the US and 334 at the EPO. Co-assignee analysis shows the strongest internal filing clusters sit within a single corporate family rather than across joint ventures. Even the largest historical filers show zero recorded activity in the most recent tracked year, consistent with the field-wide slowdown rather than any single company's exit.
US10399309B2, assigned to FUJIFILM CORPORATION and published in 2019, claims an antireflection film built from a moth eye structure formed with metal oxide particles carrying surface hydroxyl groups, combined with two (meth)acryloyl-group compounds in the binder resin. The claim specifies a defined ratio between the peak-to-peak distance of adjacent convex portions and a related distance in the irregular surface geometry. That geometric ratio, not just the moth eye concept generally, is the narrow feature a design-around needs to clear.
The IPC composition shows G02B (optical elements) touching 1,794 of 1,885 records, while adjacent classes like G09F (displays and signage, 155) and B05D (coating processes, 156) carry far less claim density. Sub-areas such as flexible-substrate hardcoat adhesion and signage-integrated anti-glare stacks show comparatively thin overlap with the dominant clusters. That thinness is a starting signal for a freedom-to-operate check, not proof the space is genuinely open.
Japan accounts for 576 of the tracked records, ahead of the US (435) and EPO (334), which lines up with the country's concentration of display panel, polarizer and optical lens manufacturers who develop this technology in-house. Much of the portfolio appears to have been filed for domestic protection first, with WIPO/PCT filings (119) used more selectively for international coverage. This pattern matters for competitive intelligence teams deciding where to monitor for freedom-to-operate risk.
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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.