Who holds the coring bit, pressure coring and core orientation patents
55.1% of all 494 records sit with the top five assignees, so most of the field's claim space is already staked by a handful of drilling-services firms. Filings peaked in 2017 at 64 records, then declined through the period; 2021 (16 records) to 2024 (2 records) marks an -88% drop, and 2024 is the most recent year the dataset treats as complete. Later years are still filling in as publication catches up with filing, typically by around 18 months, so the 2025-2026 figures should not be read as a continuation of the decline.
- 1REFLEX INSTRUMENTS ASIA PACIFIC PTY LTD108
- 2GLOBALTECH CORP PTY LTD90
- 3BAKER HUGHES CO26
- 4NAT OILWELL VARCO LP24
- 5LONGYEAR TM INC24
See the full core acquisition and preservation 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 core acquisition and preservation patents
Who holds the most patents in core acquisition and preservation?
The dataset's assignee ranking covers 79 companies, with the leading assignee holding 108 records against 24 for the fifth-placed firm and 16 for the tenth. That is a steep concentration curve: the top five assignees combined hold 55.1% of all 494 records in scope, and the top ten hold 73.7%. This pattern means most of the fundamental coring-bit and pressure-coring hardware claims are already held by a small group of drilling-services and oilfield-equipment companies, so new entrants typically need to file around or beyond that occupied space rather than into it.
Is patent filing in this field growing or shrinking?
Filing peaked in 2017 at 64 records and has declined since; comparing the last two years the dataset treats as complete, filings fell from 16 in 2021 to 2 in 2024, an 88% drop. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025-2026 figures in the raw trend are still filling in and should not be read as confirming a continued decline. The honest read is that the core mechanical approaches to coring bits and pressure coring look mature and heavily claimed, which is consistent with fewer new filings on the base hardware.
What technology areas are least claimed in core acquisition patents?
By IPC subclass, AI-based computing methods (G06N) and image data processing (G06T) each appear in only 1.0% of the 494 records, compared with 94.3% for core drilling hardware (E21B). Control and regulating systems (G05B) and valve technology (F16K) sit higher at 4.3% each but are still thin relative to the hardware base. This suggests the biggest open opportunity is less in new mechanical coring tools and more in the digital layer around them: automated orientation verification, image-based recovery assessment, and sensor-driven contamination detection.
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 Core Acquisition and Preservation 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.