Formability Simulation Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Formability Simulation and Springback Prediction Patents
A single assignee leads with 57 records while the fifth-ranked company holds just 7 and the tenth holds 3 — a steep drop-off rather than a gradual tail. Filings climbed from 3 records in 2017 to a peak of 13 in 2022, then declined toward the 2026 cut-off. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the drop in the most recent years overstates any real slowdown — the 2025 and 2026 figures will keep filling in as those applications publish.
- 1NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION57
- 2JFE STEEL CORP46
- 3ARCELOR FRANCE SA35
- 4NIPPON STEEL & SUMITOMO METAL CORP16
- 5FORD GLOBAL TECH LLC7
See the full formability simulation and springback 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 this landscape
Who holds the most patents in formability simulation and springback prediction?
One assignee leads the ranked leaders with 57 records, well ahead of the fifth-placed company at 7 and the tenth-placed company at 3. This is a steep drop-off rather than a gradual tail, so a single filer’s portfolio carries disproportionate weight in any competitive or freedom-to-operate review. The leader’s position is reinforced by joint filings with other large steel-industry assignees, which is the strongest co-assignee relationship found in the dataset.
Is patent filing in this field growing or slowing down?
Filings rose from 3 records in 2017 to a peak of 13 in 2022, then declined toward the 2026 data cut-off. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent one to two years understate real activity rather than proving a genuine slowdown. A clean growth-rate figure is not computable from this dataset once that lag is accounted for, so treat the recent dip as provisional.
What technology areas do these patents actually cover?
The dominant class is B21D, sheet-metal working, present in 57.5% of the 179 records in scope, followed by G06F digital data processing at 37.4%. Smaller but consistent shares go to G05B control systems (19.6%) and G01N material testing (14.0%), with coating, laminates, presses and extrusion appearing in single-digit shares. Because a record can carry multiple classes, these figures add up to more than 100% and should not be treated as a partition of the whole set.
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 Formability Simulation and Springback 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.