Forming, Casting & Forging Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
Forming, Casting & Forging Patents: Filing Trends and Where Claims Concentrate
Filings grew 29% from 2021 to 2024, climbing from 31 to a peak of 40 records in 2024, the last year the data can treat as complete. Annual filings rose from 12 in 2017 to a peak of 40 in 2024, including the +29% climb from 31 filings in 2021 to 40 in 2024. Treat 2025 and 2026 as undercounted rather than declining, given the typical 18-month publication lag.
- 1CONSOL ENG12.7%
- 2LANXIDE TECH LP5.5%
- 3FOSECO INTERNATIONAL LTD3.6%
- 4BITZER KUEHLMASCHINENBAU GMBH3.4%
- 5HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC2.3%
See the full forming, casting & forging patent landscape 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 are the leading patent holders in metal casting and forging?
The assignee ranking for this dataset covers 100 companies, with the top-ranked assignee holding 106 of the 834 records in scope. The top 5 assignees combined account for 27.5% of all records and the top 10 for 36.9%, which means leadership is real but far from total — well over half of all filings sit outside the ten most active companies. Anyone assessing freedom to operate should look at both the concentrated top tier and the long tail, since a blocking claim can come from either.
Is patent filing in this field growing or slowing down?
Filings grew from 31 in 2021 to a peak of 40 in 2024, a 29% increase over that three-year span, and 2024 is the most recent year the dataset can treat as complete. The 2025 and 2026 figures appear lower, but that reflects the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication rather than an actual drop in activity. Based on the complete years, the trend through 2024 is upward, not flat or declining.
Which technology areas dominate forming, casting and forging patents?
Metal casting (IPC class B22D) and foundry moulding (B22C) are the two largest categories, covering 29.1% and 21.7% of the 834 records respectively. Ceramics and refractories, plastics shaping and heat treatment each sit near 11%, while alloys, powder metallurgy and non-ferrous metal treatment each hold roughly 8-9% shares. Because records often carry more than one IPC class, these figures overlap rather than sum to 100%, reflecting how process, material and inspection claims frequently combine in a single filing.
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 Forming, Casting & Forging Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. 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.