Femcare & Adult Incontinence Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 90.9% concentration. The top five assignees hold 1,024 of the 1,126 records in scope — this field is not open ground at the top of the ranking.
- Filing has cooled, not collapsed. From a 2018 peak of 38 filings, the 2021-to-2024 comparison shows a -8% change (12 to 11), a mild pullback rather than a retreat.
- A61F dominates, D21H and B29C are thin. 76.1% of records sit in implants-and-prostheses (A61F), while pulp/paper compositions and plastics-shaping classes each cover under 5% of the 1,126 records.
Filing growth compares 2021 (12 records) with 2024 (11) — 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 1,126 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this patent set covers
The dataset spans 1,126 published records filed against feminine hygiene and adult incontinence products, searched specifically against functional claim language: odour control, leakage barrier, body fit, discreet thickness, skin health and absorbency rating. That search string matters — it excludes generic absorbent-article filings that do not engage with these functional properties, so the records here are concentrated on the parts of the product that actually differentiate one design from another.
Coverage runs from 2015 through the 2026-07-31 data cut-off, with the most recent one to two years understated because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months. Family-level counting is used throughout rather than raw document counts, so continuation filings and multi-jurisdiction duplicates do not inflate any single assignee's position.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,126-record set: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
A 2018 peak, then a gradual step down
Filings ran from 35 in 2017 to a peak of 38 in 2018. The most recent complete comparison — 2021 at 12 filings against 2024 at 11 — shows a -8% change, a modest decline rather than a collapse. 2025 and 2026 figures in the trend chart are still filling in as publications catch up to filing dates, so treat the tail of the chart as a floor, not a ceiling.
Implants and prostheses carry the field
A61F (implants and prostheses) appears on 76.1% of the 1,126 records, far ahead of A61L (sterilising/disinfecting) at 26.8% and A61K (medicinal preparations) at 13.0%. Nonwovens (D04H, 10.9%) and cosmetics-use claims (A61Q, 8.4%) sit further down, with pulp/paper compositions (D21H, 4.5%) and plastics-shaping (B29C, 3.0%) the thinnest-claimed classes in the set. Because records can carry more than one class, these shares add to well over 100% and should be read as claim density per subclass, not as a breakdown of the whole.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,126 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Femcare and Adult Incontinence Products with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about femcare and adult incontinence products and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records anchoring this space
Substrate Comprising A Lotion Composition Limiting the Adherence of Feces or Menses to the Skin
A lotion composition applied on the body-facing surface of an absorbent article such as a diaper, training pant, adult incontinence product or feminine hygiene product improves the ease of removal of feces or menses after the article has been used and removed from the wearer. The lotion composition may also suitably be applied on a wipe.Filed by Vega, Victor Nicholas — published 2011-03-24 as US20110070277A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5820973A | Heterogeneous surge material for absorbent articles | 564 |
| 2 | US5931823A | High permeability liner with improved intake and distribution | 233 |
| 3 | US20100036346A1 | Regionalized Topsheet | 209 |
| 4 | US6590136B1 | Absorbent members for absorbing body liquids | 203 |
| 5 | US20110196330A1 | Absorbent article comprising fluid handling zones | 177 |
| 6 | US6107538A | Absorbent members for absorbing body liquids | 175 |
| 7 | US5752947A | Multiple folded side barrier for improved leakage protection | 166 |
| 8 | US20040236455A1 | Method of designing a product in a virtual environment | 161 |
| 9 | US6630054B1 | Methods for forming a fluted composite | 156 |
| 10 | US20030120249A1 | Absorbent article having an insert providing for improved fluid distribution | 155 |
Citation counts reflect a searched corpus and favour older filings — read them as markers of influence on later drafting, not as a signal of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the filing pattern actually tells you
Three findings that shape where a new filing is likely to land, and where it is likely to collide with prior art.
The leader board is not a long tail story
The top five assignees combine for 1,024 of the 1,126 records in scope, and the top ten reach 94.2%. With a single leader holding 544 records and the fifth-place assignee at only 14, the gap between first and fifth is itself a signal: this is a field with one dominant filer and a small group of steady secondary filers, not a crowded competitive middle.
Old absorbent-core art still anchors drafting
The most-cited record in the set, on heterogeneous surge materials, carries 564 citations — more than double the next entry. High-permeability liner and topsheet-zoning patents round out the most-cited group. These are foundational absorbent-core and liner concepts that later filings in odour control and body-fit claims still have to draft around.
Filing activity clusters in US, EPO and PCT
The United States receives the largest share of filings at 263, followed by the European Patent Office at 161 and the WIPO PCT route at 159. Australia, Canada and Mexico each see materially fewer filings, which suggests protection strategies here are built around the US/EU/PCT core and extended selectively rather than filed broadly from the outset.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to femcare and adult incontinence products, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space, and how thin the field gets
The ranked leaders make up a short list against 1,126 records: one dominant assignee, a handful of steady secondary filers, then a fast drop-off.
One assignee holds nearly half the set
The leading assignee's 544 records against a 1,126-record total means a single filer accounts for close to half of everything in scope. Any new entrant's freedom-to-operate analysis in this space has to start with that assignee's portfolio, not with the field average.
The field thins out fast past the leader
Fifth place holds 14 records and tenth place holds 6 — a steep decline from the 544-record leader. That gap means the meaningful competitive question in this field is not "who else is filing" so much as "how the leader's claims are structured", since no other single assignee approaches comparable scale.
Co-assignment is rare and clustered around individuals
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, and the strongest three all centre on the same individual filer paired with different named co-inventors, each at a count of 8. This points to individual-inventor filing groups rather than joint-venture or cross-licensing patterns among the corporate leaders.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Procter & Gamble Co. | 0 | — |
| DSG Technology Holdings Ltd. | 0 | — |
| McNeil-PPC, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Weyerhaeuser Co. | 0 | — |
| WARREN RAPHAEL | 0 | — |
| PAN ROBERT YA LIN | 0 | — |
| HAMMONS JOHN LEE | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The numbers above describe the field as it stands at the data cut-off. Turning that into a filing or design-around decision means going deeper on specific claims and specific assignees.
Map freedom-to-operate against the leader's portfolio
With one assignee holding 544 of 1,126 records, a targeted claim chart against that portfolio alone will tell you more than a field-wide search.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaTrack the under-claimed IPC branches
D21H and B29C sit under 5% of records each — worth a closer look before assuming the space is occupied.
Explore white space in EurekaWatch the most-cited prior art directly
The surge-material and liner patents anchoring citation counts are worth reading in full before drafting new absorbency or body-fit claims.
Pull the cited patent family in EurekaCommon questions on femcare and adult incontinence patents
The dataset's ranked leader holds 544 of the 1,126 records in scope, close to half the entire field. The top five assignees combined hold 1,024 records, or 90.9% of all records, and the top ten reach 94.2%. This is a heavily concentrated field at the top, with a steep drop after the leader — fifth place holds only 14 records and tenth place just 6.
Filing peaked in 2018 at 38 records and has since eased. The most recent complete year-over-year comparison available, 2021 to 2024, shows filings moving from 12 to 11, an 8% decline over that span. Figures for 2025 and 2026 in any trend view are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the true recent trajectory is understated rather than confirmed as falling.
A61F, covering implants and prostheses, appears on 76.1% of the 1,126 records and is by far the densest class. A61L (sterilising and disinfecting) and A61K (medicinal preparations) follow at 26.8% and 13.0% respectively. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages add up to more than 100%, and they should be read as claim density per subclass rather than a split of the total.
The thinnest-claimed classes in the set are D21H (pulp and paper compositions) at 4.5% of records and B29C (plastics shaping) at 3.0%, well below the A61F/A61L/A61K core. Nonwoven layering (D04H, 10.9%) and cosmetics-use skin-health formulations (A61Q, 8.4%) are also comparatively under-claimed relative to the dominant classes. These lower-density branches are worth checking specifically before assuming a design direction is blocked.
US20110070277A1 claims a lotion composition applied to the body-facing surface of an absorbent article — a diaper, training pant, adult incontinence product or feminine hygiene product — designed to ease removal of feces or menses from the skin after use. The lotion may also be applied to a wipe. It was filed by Vega, Victor Nicholas and published on 2011-03-24. Anyone drafting skin-health or lotion-layer claims in this space should check their claim scope against this filing directly rather than assuming novelty.
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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.