Counterbalance Forklift Design Patents: Who Leads and Where Filing Is Heading
48.4% concentration. The top 5 of 82 ranked assignees hold 200 of 413 records in scope — nearly half the field sits with a handful of manufacturers. Filings ran from 4 in 2017 up to a peak of 27 in 2018, then fell to 13 by 2021 and 5 by 2024 — a 62% decline over that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete due to publication lag and should not be read as a continuation of decline on their own.
- 1CROWN EQUIP CORP58
- 2RAYMOND LTD38
- 3HYSTER YALE MATERIALS HANDLING INC37
- 4TOYOTA INDUSTRIES CORP34
- 5CLARK EQUIPMENT CO33
See the full counterbalance forklift design 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 about counterbalance forklift patents
Who holds the most patents in counterbalance forklift design?
The dataset ranks 82 assignees, with the leader holding 58 of the 413 records in scope and the top 5 combined holding 200 records, or 48.4% of the field. That is a steep drop-off rather than one company holding an outright majority, so a freedom-to-operate review needs to check several of the leading filers, not just the single largest one. Fifth place sits at 33 records and tenth place at 10, showing the concentration tapers quickly after the top group.
Is patent filing activity in counterbalance forklift design growing or shrinking?
Filings peaked at 27 in 2018 and had fallen to 5 by 2024, the most recent year with a complete publication record — a 62% decline from the 13 filings recorded in 2021. Because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset pull will look artificially low and should not yet be read as confirming further decline. Taken together, the trend through 2024 points to a genuine cooling from the 2018 filing wave rather than a data artifact.
What technology areas dominate counterbalance forklift patent claims?
B66F, the IPC subclass covering jacks and lifting devices, appears in 91.5% of the 413 records in scope, making it by far the densest claim area. Fluid-pressure actuator systems (F15B) and motor vehicle/steering claims (B62D) follow at 6.3% and 3.9% respectively, with electrification-adjacent classes like B60K and B60L holding under 2% each. That imbalance means core mast and lifting-mechanism claims are heavily occupied, while control, sensing and drive-integration claims sit on comparatively thinner prior art.
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 Counterbalance Forklift Design 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.