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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/breast-pumps-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Baby Care ProductsBreast Pump Patents: Filing Trends, Leading Assignees and Open Claim Space
- 69.3% of all 599 records sit with just five assignees — filing here is concentrated at the top, not spread across a long tail.
- Filings fell 73% from 2021 to 2024 (89 → 24 families), after a peak in 2021 that followed the wearable-pump wave.
- A61M dominates at 92.7% of records while wearable-adjacent classes like A41C (corsets/brassieres) and H10N (solid-state actuation) sit under 4% each — a sign of where claim space is still thin.
599
Published Records
69%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-73%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (89 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 599 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What the breast pump patent record actually shows
The search scope covers 599 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026, indexed against suction pattern, noise level, milk pathway hygiene, battery life, flange fit and expression efficiency. Nearly all of them, 92.7%, carry an A61M classification for body-fluid devices, which is the expected core for any pump mechanism. The more informative signal sits in the smaller classes: A41C (wearable garment integration), F04B (positive-displacement pumping) and H10N (solid-state actuation, including piezo drives) each cover under 4% of records, meaning the wearable, in-bra form factor that dominates recent product launches is still thinly claimed relative to the core suction mechanism.
Filing activity peaked in 2021 at 89 families, coinciding with the commercial push into wearable, hands-free pumps, then declined to 24 by 2024 — a complete year, unlike 2025 and 2026 which are still filling in under the usual 18-month publication lag. Assignee concentration is high: the top 5 hold 69.3% of all 599 records and the top 10 hold 84.3%, leaving a modest tail of single- or few-filing entrants rather than a broad competitive field.
Filing trend and technology composition, 2017-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Breast Pumps 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 mix
Two views of the same 599-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
Filings rose to a 2021 peak, then fell sharply
From 55 families in 2017, filings climbed to a peak of 89 in 2021, then dropped to 24 by 2024 — a 73% decline over that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because of the roughly 18-month gap between filing and publication, so the apparent drop-off should not be read as the field cooling further than the 2021-2024 figures already show.
A61M anchors the field; wearable and actuation classes stay thin
A61M (body-fluid devices) appears in 92.7% of the 599 records, with A61J (medicine containers) at 10.0% and G16H (healthcare informatics) at 6.2% behind it. F04B (positive-displacement pumps, 3.8%), A41C (corsets and brassieres, 3.3%) and H10N (solid-state devices, 2.3%) are all under claimed relative to the core pumping mechanism, since a record can carry more than one class these shares add to over 100% of the record total.
Shares are the percentage of the 599 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 Breast Pumps covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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The records shaping the field
Representative Filing
US10926011B2 — Breast pump system (Willow Blossom Holdco, filed 2021)
WILLOW BLOSSOM HOLDCO LIMITED
The invention is a wearable breast pump system including a housing shaped at least in part to fit inside a bra and a piezo air-pump. The piezo air-pump is fitted in the housing and forms part of a closed loop system that drives a separate, deformable diaphragm to generate negative air pressure. The diaphragm is removably mounted on a breast shield.Notable for tying the piezo-driven closed-loop actuation to a removable diaphragm on the breast shield, rather than claiming the wearable form factor in isolation.
Most-cited records in scope
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5007899A | Drive unit adapted for use with manual piston pump | 243 |
| 2 | US20180361040A1 | Breast pump system | 138 |
| 3 | US20170072118A1 | Breast pump system and methods | 114 |
| 4 | US20160206794A1 | Breast pump system and methods | 114 |
| 5 | WO2016014469A1 | Breast pump system and methods | 110 |
| 6 | US20080275386A1 | Hands-free breast pump with balanced reciprocating drive | 102 |
| 7 | US20080255503A1 | Method and apparatus for minimum negative pressure control, particularly for breastpump with breastshield pre… | 88 |
| 8 | US20160058928A1 | Breast fluid expression device | 85 |
| 9 | US20180333523A1 | Breast pump assembly and methods | 75 |
| 10 | US20090099511A1 | Method and Apparatus for Minimum Negative Pressure Control, Particularly for a Breastpump with Breastshield P… | 73 |
Citation counts favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations inside this corpus — treat them as a signal of influence on later filings, not of current commercial importance.
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 Breast Pumps 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 concentration and citation data tell a filer
Three figures worth acting on before drafting a new application in this space.
Concentration
69.3%
of 599 records held by top 5 assignees
Five assignees hold most of the claim space
With 415 of 599 records concentrated among five assignees, a new entrant is filing into a field where the core suction and pathway-hygiene mechanisms are already densely claimed by a small group. The tenth-ranked assignee holds only 9 records, showing how quickly the field thins out past the leaders.
Source: assignee ranking, 78 companies
Momentum
-73%
families, 2021 (89) to 2024 (24)
The 2021 wearable-pump wave has cooled
Filing peaked in 2021 alongside the commercial wearable-pump boom and dropped by 73% through 2024, the last complete year in scope. Several leading assignees show zero filings in the latest year, though that reading should stay cautious given the publication lag on the most recent two years.
Source: filing trend, 2017-2026
Composition
3.3%
of records classed under A41C (garment integration)
Wearable integration is thinly claimed versus core pumping
A61M covers 92.7% of records, but the classes tied to wearable, in-bra integration and solid-state actuation each sit under 4%. That gap is where claim drafting has not caught up with product design.
Source: IPC composition, 599 records
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 breast pumps, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Breast Pumps 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
Players
Who holds the claim space, and where it thins out
A small group of assignees controls most of the field; recent-year activity has slowed even among the leaders.
Leader
135
records
The top assignee holds nearly a quarter of all records
The leading assignee's 135 records outpace the fifth-place holder's 25 by more than five to one, underscoring how front-loaded this field is. Recent-year momentum data shows zero filings from several of the largest assignees in the latest year, consistent with the broader post-2021 slowdown.
Source: assignee ranking
Long tail
9
records at tenth place
Past the top ten, filings drop off quickly
The top 10 assignees hold 84.3% of all 599 records between them, leaving the remaining 68 ranked companies to split a small residual share. This is a field where partnering with, licensing from, or designing around the leaders matters more than tracking a broad competitive set.
Source: assignee ranking, 78 companies
Collaboration
10
co-assignee pairs identified
Co-filing is limited and concentrated around one holding company
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, and the strongest of them all involve the same corporate parent filing alongside named inventors rather than joint ventures between separate companies. Cross-company collaboration is not a major feature of this field's filing behaviour.
Source: co-assignee pairs
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Koninklijke Philips N.V. | 0 | — |
| Willow Innovations, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Chiaro Technology Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Medela Holding AG | 0 | — |
| NOOSHEE INC | 0 | — |
| PIGEON CORP | 0 | — |
| Lansinoh Laboratories, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Willow Blossom Holdco Ltd. | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Breast Pumps 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
What's Next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with a settled core and a thin wearable-integration layer. Two directions follow from that.
Map the under-claimed branches against your own roadmap
Run the specific garment-integration, actuation and hygiene-sensing branches flagged above against your product plans to see which ones sit genuinely open versus merely under-indexed in this search string.
Explore white space in EurekaWatch the leading assignees' next moves, not just their totals
With several top assignees at zero filings in the latest year, the next 12-18 months of publications (once the lag clears) will show whether the slowdown is a plateau or a shift toward a new sub-area.
Track assignee activity in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Breast Pumps 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 breast pump patents
This dataset covers 599 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from a search targeting suction pattern, noise level, milk pathway hygiene, battery life, flange fit and expression efficiency terms. Filing activity peaked in 2021 at 89 families before falling to 24 by 2024, the most recent year that can be treated as complete given the roughly 18-month publication lag. The true count for 2025 and 2026 will rise as those years finish publishing.
The field is concentrated: the top 5 assignees hold 69.3% of all 599 records in scope, and the top 10 hold 84.3%. The leading assignee alone holds 135 records, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 25 and the tenth-place holder at 9. Past the top ten, the remaining 68 ranked companies each hold a small share, so competitive tracking should focus on the leaders rather than a broad field.
Almost all records, 92.7% of the 599 in scope, fall under IPC class A61M for body-fluid devices, which covers the core pumping mechanism. Smaller but notable classes include A61J for medicine containers (10.0%), G16H for healthcare informatics (6.2%), and F04B for positive-displacement pumps (3.8%). Classes tied to wearable integration (A41C, 3.3%) and solid-state actuation (H10N, 2.3%) are present but thin relative to the core mechanism, since records can carry multiple classes these percentages sum to more than 100%.
Filings dropped 73% from a 2021 peak of 89 families to 24 in 2024, which is the last year in the dataset that can be read as a complete filing year. Several of the largest assignees show zero filings in the most recent year tracked. That said, 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in due to publication lag, so it is premature to read the very latest years as confirming a further decline beyond what the 2021-2024 figures already show.
US10926011B2, assigned to Willow Blossom Holdco and filed with a 2021 priority date, claims a wearable breast pump housing shaped to fit inside a bra, built around a piezo air-pump that drives a closed-loop system moving a separate, removable diaphragm to generate negative pressure at the breast shield. It matters because it ties a specific actuation architecture (piezo-driven, closed-loop, removable diaphragm) to the wearable form factor, rather than claiming the wearable shape alone. Anyone designing a piezo-actuated wearable pump with a similar diaphragm arrangement should review this claim scope closely before finalising a mechanism.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Breast Pumps 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
Research Breast Pumps in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole breast pumps corpus yourself, in your own scope.
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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.