Circular Stapler Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 85.2% of all 5,463 records sit with just five assignees — this is one of the more concentrated corners of surgical-instrument IP.
- Filings fell -69% from 2021 to 2024 (314 to 96), the last span the data treats as complete before publication lag sets in.
- A61B carries 93.2% of records while robotics (B25J, 1.4%) and connectivity (H04L, 1.6%) remain comparatively thin — a gap for smart-stapler entrants.
Filing growth compares 2021 (314 records) with 2024 (96) — 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 5,463 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Circular stapler and anastomosis device patenting spans mechanical stapling architecture, tissue compression and staple-formation control, donut integrity verification, and the sensing and informatics layers now being layered onto traditional hardware. The corpus in scope here totals 5,463 published records filed or published between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from filings that reference core mechanical concepts like purse-string closure and device diameter alongside clinical failure modes such as anastomotic leak.
The picture that emerges is a mature mechanical core with a small number of long-standing device makers holding most of the claim space, and a thinner but active informatics and robotics periphery where filing activity is newer and ownership less settled.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 5,463-record dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which technical subclasses the records fall into.
Filing trend: a peak in 2020, then a pullback
Filings rose to a peak of 472 in 2020 before declining; the 2021-to-2024 span, the last treated as complete, shows a drop from 314 to 96 filings (-69%). Counts from 2025 onward are still filling in as publication catches up with filing, so the apparent tail-off should not be read as the field slowing further.
IPC composition: mechanical core, thinner digital layer
A61B (diagnosis and surgery) covers 93.2% of the 5,463 records, confirming this is fundamentally a mechanical-device field. Healthcare informatics (G16H, 6.3%), data processing (G06F, 2.7%) and robotics/manipulators (B25J, 1.4%) are present but far smaller, marking the digital and robotic layers as the newer, less-claimed additions to an established mechanical base.
Shares are the percentage of the 5,463 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Circular Staplers and Anastomosis with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about circular staplers and anastomosis and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaFoundational and most-cited records
US20220104821A1 — Surgical instrument with adaptive function controls
A surgical instrument receives an indication to provide adaptive control of surgical instrument functions, including adaptable staple height operating range, motor control for tissue compression, and operation informed by parameters from previous procedures. The instrument can adapt a staple-height display based on anvil head size and adjust motor behaviour accordingly.Filed by Cilag GmbH International, published 2022-04-07.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5403312A | Electrosurgical hemostatic device | 6,090 |
| 2 | US5433721A | Endoscopic instrument having a torsionally stiff drive shaft for applying fasteners to tissue | 3,491 |
| 3 | US5735848A | Electrosurgical stapling device | 3,369 |
| 4 | US8800838B2 | Robotically-controlled cable-based surgical end effectors | 3,233 |
| 5 | US5709680A | Electrosurgical hemostatic device | 3,226 |
| 6 | US5810811A | Electrosurgical hemostatic device | 3,191 |
| 7 | US7147138B2 | Surgical stapling instrument having an electroactive polymer actuated buttress deployment mechanism | 3,159 |
| 8 | US7794475B2 | Surgical staples having compressible or crushable members for securing tissue therein and stapling instrument… | 3,033 |
| 9 | US5104025A | Intraluminal anastomotic surgical stapler with detached anvil | 3,033 |
| 10 | US5695504A | Devices and methods for performing a vascular anastomosis | 2,936 |
Citation counts accumulate over time and favour older filings; treat them as a measure of influence on later engineering, not of which claims are commercially active today.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the concentration and trend data mean
Three patterns stand out once the filing trend, assignee ranking and IPC composition are read together.
The mechanical core is locked up by a handful of firms
The top five assignees combined account for 4,657 of 5,463 records in scope. That level of concentration means new mechanical stapling-head or actuation claims are likely to run into dense prior art from a small set of long-established device makers rather than a fragmented field.
Volume has pulled back from its 2020 peak
After peaking at 472 filings in 2020, volume declined through the last complete filing years. This suggests the core mechanical design space is well-explored and new filings are increasingly concentrated in adjacent areas like sensing and informatics rather than base stapling mechanics.
Robotics and connectivity are still thin layers
Diagnosis-and-surgery classifications dominate the corpus, while manipulator/robotics (B25J) and digital transmission (H04L) classes sit in the low single digits. Firms building robotic or connected stapling systems are filing into far less occupied claim territory than those filing purely mechanical improvements.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to circular staplers and anastomosis, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| HESS CHRISTOPHER J | MORGAN JEROME R | 26 |
| HESS CHRISTOPHER J | WEISENBURGH II WILLIAM B | 22 |
| Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. | SHELTON FREDERICK E IV | 18 |
| Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. | MORGAN JEROME R | 15 |
| Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. | HESS CHRISTOPHER J | 14 |
| HESS CHRISTOPHER J | VOEGELE JAMES W | 13 |
| HESS CHRISTOPHER J | SHELTON IV FREDERICK E | 13 |
| Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. | RIVERA CARLOS | 8 |
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, and the strongest pairings are individual inventors linked to a single corporate assignee rather than cross-company collaborations — consistent with a field where IP is held close rather than co-developed.
Who holds the claim space, and where the gate is thinnest
The assignee ranking covers 100 companies drawn from patent families; the leader holds 1,584 records, with the fifth-place company at 69 and tenth place at 34 — a sharp drop-off after the top handful.
One filer dominates the family count
The top-ranked assignee's record count is more than 20 times that of the fifth-place company, a gap that reflects decades of continuation filing on a core mechanical platform rather than a recent surge.
The long tail starts fast
Volume falls by roughly half between fifth and tenth place, and continues thinning from there across the remaining ranked companies, indicating a narrow group of firms carrying the bulk of activity.
Even leaders have slowed their latest-year output
Several of the largest historical filers show zero or sharply reduced filings in the latest year, consistent with the broader post-2021 pullback rather than any single company exiting the space.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Cilag GmbH International | 2 | -90% |
| Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Covidien LP | 0 | -100% |
| ETHICON ENDO SURGERY LLC | 0 | — |
| Standard Bariatrics, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| HEARTPORT INC | 0 | — |
| United States Surgical Corp | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a mechanically saturated core and a thinner digital periphery. Two directions follow naturally.
Map the sensing and informatics layer in detail
G16H and G06F together touch under 10% of records but are growing in relevance as staplers gain connected feedback. A focused claim search on donut-integrity sensing and adaptive compression control would clarify how open that space actually is.
Explore this branch in EurekaTrack the leading assignees' latest filings closely
With top filers showing sharp YoY drops, watching their newest publications as 2025-2026 data fills in will show whether they are pivoting toward robotics and informatics or simply filing less overall.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaCommon questions on circular stapler patent activity
The dataset's assignee ranking is heavily concentrated: the top five assignees together account for 85.2% of all 5,463 records in scope, and the leading assignee alone holds 1,584 records. This concentration reflects decades of continuation and platform filing by a small number of established surgical device manufacturers rather than a fragmented market. Anyone assessing freedom to operate in this space should expect dense prior art from that same small group of companies.
Filings peaked in 2020 at 472 and declined to 96 by 2024, a -69% change over the 2021-to-2024 span, which is the most recent period the data treats as complete. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the true recent trend is understated rather than confirmed falling. The safest reading is that the core mechanical design space has matured and filing has slowed from its 2020 peak.
Robotics and manipulator technology (IPC class B25J) covers only 1.4% of the 5,463 records, and digital transmission (H04L) covers 1.6%, both far behind the dominant A61B mechanical category at 93.2%. Healthcare informatics and data processing classes are similarly modest. These smaller shares point to robotic end-effector integration, real-time sensing, and connected staple-formation telemetry as areas with comparatively less occupied claim space.
US20220104821A1, filed by Cilag GmbH International and published in 2022, claims adaptive control of surgical instrument functions including adaptable staple-height operating range, tissue-compression motor control, and use of parameters from prior procedures to adjust device behaviour. It sits at the intersection of the mechanical stapling core and the newer informatics layer, which makes it relevant to anyone designing adaptive or data-informed stapling systems. Because it comes from one of the dataset's dominant assignees, it is a useful reference point for understanding how leading firms are extending mechanical platforms with software-driven control.
Very reliant at the top: the leading assignee's 1,584 records dwarf the fifth-place company's 69, a gap of more than twenty-fold. Co-assignee collaboration is also limited, with only 10 pairs identified in the dataset and the strongest pairs linking individual named inventors to a single corporate assignee rather than joint filings between companies. This suggests the field's core IP is held closely within individual organisations rather than developed jointly across firms.
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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.