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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/fuel-cells-pem-fuel-cell-patent-landscape-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Fuel CellsPEM Fuel Cell Patents: Who Holds the Ground and Where It's Open
4,471
Published Records
24%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-7%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (119 records) with 2024 (111) — 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 4,471 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What the PEM fuel cell patent record actually shows
Proton-exchange-membrane fuel cell patenting has run continuously since well before this dataset's 2015 start, but the years captured here — 2015 through mid-2026 — cover the period when automotive and stationary power applications drove the bulk of new filing. The record set is 4,471 published documents, searched against title text for "PEM fuel cell" and, separately, claims language combining fuel-cell terms with the H01M8 classification. That second condition matters: it pulls in filings that discuss PEM fuel cells inside broader fuel-cell claims, not just documents that name the technology in the title.
Two things stand out early. First, ownership is concentrated but not locked down: the leader alone accounts for 323 records, well ahead of the field, yet the ranked leaders still show a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants below the top ten. Second, the technology composition is lopsided by design — H01M (batteries, cells and fuel cells) is the anchor classification for almost every record, while adjacent process classes (catalysis, electrolytic production, separation, polymer chemistry) each cover a modest single-digit share, which is where narrower claim opportunities tend to survive.
Filing concentration and technology composition at a glance
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Fuel Cells: PEM Fuel Cell Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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The Numbers
Filing trend and technology composition
The two views below use the full 4,471-record set: one tracks when filings were published, the other shows which IPC subclasses those filings carry.
Filing activity, 2017 to 2026
Published records rose from 74 in 2017 to a peak of 135 in 2023. The 2021-to-2024 window moved from 119 to 111, a -7% change — read this as a plateau, not a decline, since 2025 and 2026 are still filling in under the roughly 18-month gap between filing and publication.
Where the claims sit across IPC subclasses
H01M dominates at 95.7% of the 4,471 records, which is expected given the search scope. The more informative signal is the second tier: B01J, C25B, C01B and B01D each sit in the 5.7%-6.6% range, and B60L and C08G trail further back — these are the branches carrying materials, production and integration claims rather than the core cell architecture.
Shares are the percentage of the 4,471 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Fuel Cells: PEM Fuel Cell Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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The documents setting the citation baseline
Representative Filing
Method for operating a PEM fuel cell plant and PEM fuel cell plant
SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
A method is provided for operating a PEM fuel cell plant containing at least one PEM fuel cell block and a speed-controlled compressor upstream of the PEM fuel cell block for supplying air at a volume flow rate. The speed of the compressor is controlled to a desired value for adjusting the electric current of the PEM fuel cell block to a given value. The desired value is derived from the given value of the electric current. This measure ensures a simple control of the air volume flow rate for the PEM fuel cell block with low apparatus requirements. A PEM fuel cell plant is also provided.Filed by Siemens; granted 2001-01-30. A system-level operating-control claim rather than a materials or membrane claim, which is why it still surfaces in downstream compressor-control filings.
Most-cited PEM fuel cell records
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5763113A | PEM fuel cell monitoring system | 401 |
| 2 | US6372376B1 | Corrosion resistant PEM fuel cell | 382 |
| 3 | US5776624A | Brazed bipolar plates for PEM fuel cells | 382 |
| 4 | US6280865B1 | Fuel cell system with hydrogen purification subsystem | 308 |
| 5 | US6030718A | Proton exchange membrane fuel cell power system | 304 |
| 6 | US20040197638A1 | Fuel cell electrode comprising carbon nanotubes | 286 |
| 7 | US6821501B2 | Integrated flameless distributed combustion/steam reforming membrane reactor for hydrogen production and use … | 243 |
| 8 | US5624769A | Corrosion resistant PEM fuel cell | 242 |
| 9 | US5985474A | Integrated full processor, furnace, and fuel cell system for providing heat and electrical power to a building | 230 |
| 10 | US6099984A | Mirrored serpentine flow channels for fuel cell | 230 |
Citation counts inside this corpus skew toward older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations — treat the ranking as a map of influence on later filers, not a ranking of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Fuel Cells: PEM Fuel Cell Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the concentration and trend numbers mean for filing strategy
Three figures from this dataset are worth acting on rather than just noting.
Concentration
24.5%
of all 4,471 records held by the top 5 assignees
The top of the field is narrow, the rest is long
Five assignees hold roughly a quarter of everything published in scope, with the leader alone at 323 records — well clear of fifth place at 125. Below the top ten, though, the ranking thins out fast, which means most of the 100 ranked assignees hold only a handful of families each.
Read this as: a few portfolios to clear, many niches still open.
Filing trend
135 in 2023
peak year, against 74 in 2017
Activity has plateaued, not fallen
The 2021-to-2024 span moved from 119 to 111 records, a -7% change. Given the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication, the lower 2025-2026 counts are an artefact of incomplete data, not evidence of a slowdown.
Treat the last two years of the trend chart as provisional.
Technology mix
6.6% B01J
share of records carrying catalysis claims
Core cell claims dominate; process claims are the open lane
H01M's 95.7% share confirms the search scope more than it reveals strategy. The more useful reading is that catalysis (B01J), electrolytic production (C25B), non-metallic compounds (C01B) and separation (B01D) each sit near 6%, meaning claim density there is a fraction of the core architecture space.
Materials and process claims face lighter prior art than cell-architecture claims.
Co-filing
10 pairs
co-assignee pairs recorded, strongest at 54 shared filings
Joint filing is rare and concentrated where it exists
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, and the strongest single pairing accounts for 54 shared filings. Co-development filing is the exception in this field, not a common route to shared claim coverage.
Most portfolios here are built by a single assignee, not a consortium.
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Where joint filing happens
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Siemens AG | Emitec Gesellschaft für Emissionstechnologie mbH | 54 |
| Ballard Power Systems | MCLEAN GERARD FRANCIS | 16 |
| Compound Fuel Inc. | OLMEIJER DAVID | 13 |
| UTC Power Corp | BREAULT RICHARD D | 11 |
| Siemens AG | Emitec Gesellschaft für Emissionstechnologie mbH | 11 |
| Siemens AG | REIZIG MEIKE | 11 |
| Siemens AG | GROSSE JOACHIM | 11 |
| Siemens AG | BRUCK ROLF | 11 |
Co-assignee activity is thin across the dataset — ten pairs total — concentrated in a small number of long-running industrial partnerships rather than spread across the field.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Fuel Cells: PEM Fuel Cell Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Moving from landscape to filing decisions
The figures above answer where the field stands; the next step is applying them to a specific claim or a specific competitor.
Check a draft claim against the dense zones
Core H01M cell-architecture claims sit on the deepest prior art in this dataset. Running a candidate claim against that density before drafting can save a rejection cycle.
Analyse a claim in EurekaTrack a specific assignee's filing pattern
The leader's 323 records and the drop-off toward the tail of the ranking suggest very different competitive postures. Watching one assignee's yearly filing shape can tell you whether they are consolidating or retreating from a sub-branch.
Set up assignee tracking in EurekaScope the under-claimed branches
Catalysis, electrolytic production and separation-process claims each cover a single-digit share of records. That is where a narrower, defensible claim is more likely to clear.
Explore white space in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Fuel Cells: PEM Fuel Cell Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about PEM fuel cell patents
The dataset's ranked leader holds 323 records, well ahead of fifth place at 125 and tenth place at 68. The top five assignees combined hold 24.5% of all 4,471 records in scope, and the top ten hold 33.6%. Below that, the ranking — 100 assignees in total — thins into a long tail of companies with only a handful of filings each, so a strong lead at the top does not mean the field is closed to new entrants.
Filing activity peaked so far in 2023 at 135 records, up from 74 in 2017. Looking at the most recent complete years, 2021 to 2024 moved from 119 to 111 records, a -7% change, which reads as a plateau rather than a decline. The apparent drop in 2025 and 2026 is largely an artefact of the roughly 18-month lag between filing a patent and its publication, so those two years should not be treated as a real slowdown yet.
Almost all records (95.7% of the 4,471 in scope) sit in H01M, the batteries-and-fuel-cells classification, which reflects the search scope itself. Beyond that core, catalysis and chemical processing (B01J) covers 6.6%, electrolytic production of compounds (C25B) 6.5%, non-metallic elements and inorganic compounds (C01B) 6.3%, and separation processes such as filtration (B01D) 5.7%. Polymer processing (C08J), EV propulsion integration (B60L) and condensation polymers (C08G) trail further behind, each under 5%.
The classification data suggests the process and materials branches carry noticeably lighter claim density than the core cell architecture. B01J (catalysis), C25B (electrolytic production), C01B (inorganic compounds) and B01D (separation) each cover only around 5.7% to 6.6% of the 4,471 records, compared with H01M's 95.7%. That gap does not guarantee an easy grant, but it does mean fewer competing claims to design around in those adjacent process areas than in the core membrane-and-stack space.
The United States leads with 1,324 filings in this dataset, followed by WIPO's PCT route at 692 and the European Patent Office at 602. Canada (281), China (275) and Germany (231) follow behind. The US and PCT totals together suggest most applicants are seeking broad, multi-market protection rather than filing narrowly in a single home jurisdiction.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Fuel Cells: PEM Fuel Cell Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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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.