Buttress Materials for Staple Lines Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
Buttress Materials for Staple Lines: Patents, Leaders and Filing Trends
90.8% of all 2,080 records sit with just five assignees — this field is about as concentrated as surgical-instrument sub-fields get. Filings rose to a peak of 162 in 2018, then activity in the core 2021-2024 window fell from 94 to 20 records — a 79% drop over that three-year span. That decline should be read as a real slowdown in the mature part of the window, not as an artefact of the cut-off, since 2024 is the last year the dataset treats as complete; only 2025 and 2026 are still filling in.
- 1COVIDIEN LP677
- 2CILAG GMBH INTERNATIONAL510
- 3ETHICON ENDO SURGERY INC320
- 4ETHICON INC295
- 5ETHICON ENDO SURGERY LLC87
See the full buttress materials for staple lines 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 on buttress material patents
Who holds the most patents on staple line buttress materials?
The assignee ranking in this dataset is highly concentrated: the leading company alone holds 677 of the 2,080 records in scope, with the top five assignees together accounting for 90.8% of all records. That leaves the remaining 49 ranked companies competing for a small residual share, so freedom-to-operate diligence in this field should focus heavily on the top few portfolios rather than spreading across dozens of smaller filers.
Is buttress material patent filing still growing?
No — filings peaked at 162 in 2018 and then declined through the last complete three-year window, falling from 94 in 2021 to 20 in 2024, a 79% drop. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any chart will still rise as more records publish, but the 2021-2024 decline itself sits in years the data treats as settled.
What patent classes cover staple line buttress technology?
The dominant class is A61B (diagnosis and surgery), appearing in 90.8% of the 2,080 records, reflecting that buttress material is usually claimed as part of a surgical stapling system. A61L (sterilising and disinfecting) covers 13.6% and A61F (implants and prostheses) covers 5.4%, with smaller shares in plastics shaping, data processing and nailing-tool classes. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, these shares add up to more than 100%.
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 Buttress Materials for Staple Lines covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. 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.