Dispersants for Pigments and Fillers Patents: Leaders & Filing Trends 2026
- Concentrated at the top. The five leading assignees hold 147 of 305 records in scope (48.2%), and the top ten hold 190 (62.3%) — a steep drop-off from a leader at 77 filings to fifth place at 10.
- Filing has flattened, not grown. Activity peaked at 10 records in 2019; the 2022 midpoint sits at just 2, and none of the six most-active assignees show any filings in the latest year.
- Coatings dominate the class mix. C09D (coatings, paints & inks) appears on 78.0% of the 305 records, more than 24 points ahead of the next most common class, C09B (organic dyes & pigments) at 53.1%.
What this landscape covers
Dispersants for pigments and fillers sit at the intersection of coatings chemistry and polymer additive science: molecules engineered to wet a pigment or filler surface, prevent flocculation, and hold particles in stable suspension through steric stabilization or resin-compatible anchoring groups. This landscape covers 305 published records filed between 2015 and 2026, drawn from patents whose title or abstract references pigment dispersants, wetting-and-dispersing agents or polymeric dispersants, and whose claims touch grinding efficiency, color strength development, flocculation control or resin compatibility. Coverage runs to a data cut-off of 2026-07-31; because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent one or two years in any trend understate real filing activity.
The dataset spans eight IPC subclasses, from coatings and inks through addition polymers, condensation polymers and inorganic pigment treatment, reflecting how dispersant chemistry is claimed both as a standalone additive and as part of a formulated coating or ink system.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 305 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims fall under.
A flat-to-declining trend since 2019
Filings rose from 2 in 2017 to a peak of 10 in 2019, then eased back toward the 2022 midpoint of 2. With no assignee among the six most active showing filings in the latest year, the near-term data reads as consolidation around existing claim positions rather than fresh entry — though the newest one to two years are still filling in as publications catch up to filing dates.
Coatings and pigment classes carry the bulk of the claims
C09D (coatings, paints & inks) touches 78.0% of the 305 records and C09B (organic dyes & pigments) 53.1%, confirming that most dispersant claims are drafted inside a coatings or colorant system rather than as a bare chemical composition. Polymer-side classes — C08K, C08F, C08L and C08G — each cover roughly a quarter to a third of records, showing dispersants are also frequently claimed through the host polymer or additive package. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares add up to well over 100% of the 305-record base and should be read individually, not summed.
Shares are the percentage of the 305 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Dispersants for Pigments and Fillers with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about dispersants for pigments and fillers and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this space
US20210332194A1 — Pigment dispersant for coating (BASF Coatings GmbH, 2021-10-28)
Described herein is a polymeric pigment dispersant, a process for preparation of the polymeric pigment dispersant and a pigment dispersion including the pigment dispersant that is used for coating and in printing ink, automotive basecoat, automotive clearcoat, mill base, furniture coatings and wood coatings.Its claim scope spans printing ink through automotive basecoat and clearcoat, mill base, and furniture and wood coatings — a breadth typical of dispersant filings that protect a single chemistry across many downstream end uses.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6262152B1 | Particles dispersed w/polymer dispersant having liquid soluble and cross-linkable insoluble segments | 256 |
| 2 | JP2000239554A | Pigment dispersant, pigment dispersion composition containing the same and colored photosensitive composition | 133 |
| 3 | US4243430A | Pigment dispersant for aqueous paints | 112 |
| 4 | WO2000020520A1 | Dispersions having improved stability | 104 |
| 5 | US20030144399A1 | Polymeric stabilizer for pigment dispersions | 68 |
| 6 | US6472463B1 | Graft copolymer pigment dispersant | 63 |
| 7 | WO1993012183A1 | Aqueous dispersion of composite particles including polymeric latex | 62 |
| 8 | US20060014855A1 | Pigment dispersion with polymeric dispersant | 59 |
| 9 | US6599973B1 | Aqueous graft copolymer pigment dispersants | 47 |
| 10 | US20130072614A1 | Ink composition for continuous inkjet printing | 46 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations inside this corpus; treat the ranking as a signal of influence on subsequent drafting, not of current commercial relevance.
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Four read-throughs from the concentration, trend and classification data above.
A steep drop from leader to long tail
The leading assignee alone holds 77 records, more than seven times fifth place at 10. With the top 10 combined covering 62.3% of the 305 records, the remaining field of ranked companies files thinly and infrequently — useful context before assuming a crowded space is evenly contested.
No sign of renewed filing from the leaders
None of the six most-active assignees recorded a filing in the latest year. Combined with a filing count that has drifted down from its 2019 peak, this reads less like a shrinking market and more like incumbents holding position on claims filed several years ago.
Coatings systems dominate the claim style
Dispersant chemistry here is overwhelmingly claimed inside a coatings, paint or ink system (C09D) rather than as a stand-alone compound, with organic pigment classification (C09B) the second most common tag at 53.1%. A filer targeting a bare-dispersant composition claim is working against a smaller, less occupied precedent set.
Collaboration is limited and concentrated
Only 10 co-assignee pairings appear across the dataset, and the strongest pairing accounts for 10 shared records. Co-filing is not a common pattern in this field; most records carry a single assignee, which raises the bar for identifying joint-development targets.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to dispersants for pigments and fillers, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space, and where it is thin
The ranked field covers 99 companies counted by record. Filing is heavily weighted toward a small number of long-established names, with a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants below them.
One filer sets the pace by a wide margin
The top-ranked assignee holds 77 of the 305 records in scope, more than the next four combined would need to match the top-5 share. That scale suggests a filer defending a broad, long-running portfolio rather than one making an opportunistic entry.
A short shoulder before the tail begins
Filing counts fall quickly after the leader — fifth place holds 10 records and tenth place 7 — before flattening into a long tail of smaller filers. This shoulder is where a challenger with a differentiated chemistry could plausibly compete for visibility.
Named-inventor pairs outweigh corporate co-filing
The strongest co-assignee relationships in the dataset pair individual named inventors with each other and with a major corporate assignee, rather than showing two companies co-filing directly. That points to inventor mobility or licensing arrangements as a more likely explanation than joint ventures.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. | 0 | — |
| Rohm & Haas Co. | 0 | — |
| Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals Mfg. Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Clariant Produkte (Deutschland) GmbH | 0 | — |
| Clariant AG | 0 | — |
| WOLFE MICHAEL STEPHEN | 0 | — |
| Ciba Specialty Chemicals Holding Inc. | 0 | — |
| LEE HEE HYUN | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a mature, concentrated field with a thin but real gap below the coatings-heavy core.
Map the leader's claim boundaries
With one assignee holding 77 of 305 records, the practical first step is charting exactly which claim elements that portfolio covers before drafting anywhere near steric stabilization or resin-compatibility language.
Explore assignee claim maps in EurekaTest a filler-specific composition claim
Coverage skews heavily toward pigment and coatings systems; a composition claim scoped tightly to non-pigment filler dispersion may sit on less occupied ground.
Run a white-space search in EurekaWatch for renewed filing activity
Filing has been flat since 2019 with no recent activity from the most active assignees; a filing uptick in newly published records would be an early signal worth monitoring given the 18-month publication lag.
Set up monitoring in EurekaCommon questions on dispersant patents
Filing in this field is concentrated: the top five assignees together hold 147 of the 305 records in scope, or 48.2%, and the top ten hold 190, or 62.3%. The leading single assignee accounts for 77 records, well ahead of fifth place at 10. That gap indicates a small group of long-established chemical and coatings companies control most of the granted and pending claim space, with a long tail of companies holding only a handful of filings each.
The data shows filing activity peaking at 10 records in 2019 and easing since, with the 2022 midpoint at just 2 records. None of the six most active assignees recorded a filing in the latest year of the dataset. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the very newest years will fill in somewhat as more applications publish, but the multi-year trend already points to a flat or declining filing rate rather than renewed growth.
Records are classified across eight IPC subclasses, most commonly C09D (coatings, paints and inks) at 78.0% of the 305 records and C09B (organic dyes and pigments) at 53.1%. Polymer-related classes — additives in polymers (C08K), addition polymers (C08F), polymer compositions (C08L) and condensation polymers (C08G) — each appear on roughly a quarter to a third of records. Because records can carry multiple classes, these figures overlap and should be read as independent shares of the same 305-record base, not added together.
The classification split shows coatings and pigment systems dominating the claim space, while condensation-polymer backbones (C08G, 14.1% of records), inorganic pigment surface treatments (C09C, 23.0%) and miscellaneous-application materials (C09K, 24.3%) are comparatively thinner. A first claim targeting a filler-specific dispersion mechanism, rather than a pigment-coating system, or a novel C08G-backbone anchoring chemistry, is more likely to clear prior art than another coatings-system composition claim.
The most-cited records in this dataset, including one with 256 citations, are older foundational filings on polymeric dispersant chemistry and pigment dispersion stability. High citation counts reflect how long a patent has been available to be cited inside this corpus, not that it remains commercially central today; some of these patents may already be expired or narrowly construed by courts. Any freedom-to-operate assessment still needs to check current legal status and claim scope directly rather than relying on citation rank alone.
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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.