Koji Fermentation Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 68.7% of the field sits with five filers. 202 of 294 records in scope belong to the top five assignees, leaving a long tail of single- or double-filing entrants to work around dense prior art rather than open ground.
- Filing has stayed thin and steady, not surging. The trend runs from a single record in 2017 to a peak of just 4 in 2022 — this is a mature, narrow field, not one experiencing a filing rush.
- Microbial and enzymatic claims outpace food-formulation claims. C12N (microorganisms & genetic engineering) touches 31.6% of records, well ahead of A23J proteins and C12P fermentation synthesis — the harder science is where the claim density actually sits.
Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 294 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This review covers 294 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine koji fermentation or soy sauce brewing process language with technical markers such as Aspergillus starter, protease activity, moromi mash, salt concentration, nitrogen utilization or brewing duration. The scope is deliberately narrow: it captures process and microbial claims tied to the brewing step itself, not general soy sauce packaging or flavour-additive patents that happen to mention koji in passing.
Filing is heaviest through Japanese receiving offices, consistent with the origin of koji brewing technique, with meaningful secondary filing through the EPO and USPTO and a smaller PCT and Singapore presence. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any trend chart understate actual filing activity for those years.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 294 records: how filing has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim weight.
A narrow, steady field rather than a filing rush
The trend runs from 1 record in 2017 to a peak of 4 in 2022, with 2026 still partial at the data cut-off. With fewer than four complete years available once publication lag is factored in, no reliable growth rate can be stated — this is a field with sustained, low-volume filing rather than an inflection point.
Microbial science outweighs formulation claims
A23L (foods & non-alcoholic beverages) touches 89.8% of the 294 records, unsurprising given the search scope. Below that, C12N microorganisms & genetic engineering reaches 31.6%, ahead of A23J proteins (15.6%), C12P fermentation & enzymatic synthesis (15.0%) and C12R microorganism indexing (14.3%). Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares add to well over 100% of the record total — they describe overlap, not a partition of the field.
Shares are the percentage of the 294 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Koji Fermentation and Soy Sauce Brewing with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about koji fermentation and soy sauce brewing and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe documents other filings build on
US20130280376A1 — Enzyme preparation from koji fermentation
The invention provides an enzyme preparation obtainable from a Koji fermentation, wherein the Koji fermentation comprises mushrooms fermented with Aspergillus. The invention further relates to an enzyme preparation obtainable from the fermentation of a mixture of mushrooms and cereal with Aspergillus, to a process of producing the enzyme preparation, and to the use of the preparation.Filed by Nestec S.A., published 2013-10-24 — notable for extending koji fermentation substrate claims beyond cereal alone to mushroom and mushroom-cereal mixtures.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US4382964A | Process for producing soy sauce or Miso | 32 |
| 2 | JP1989002550A | The soy sauce brewing term | 27 |
| 3 | JP1984140841A | Method for heat-treating falling particulate and granular material and apparatus therefor | 26 |
| 4 | US20040082053A1 | Thermostable glutaminase and thermostable glutaminase gene | 18 |
| 5 | JP1981068372A | Preparation of seasoning containing salt | 18 |
| 6 | US6090607A | Enhanced expression of proteolytic enzymes in koji mold | 17 |
| 7 | US4851241A | Process for treating meat with raw soy sauce | 17 |
| 8 | US20170020173A1 | Method for improving the quality of soy sauce using Bacillus amyloliquefaciens | 16 |
| 9 | US20060068056A1 | Method of improving taste and/or flavour of foods and beverages | 14 |
| 10 | JP1984011160A | Preparation of seasoning liquid | 13 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings — treat this list as a signal of influence on the field's technical vocabulary, not a ranking of current importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three read-outs from the concentration, trend and classification data above.
The top of the field is tight, the rest is thin
The leader alone accounts for 93 records, and the top five combined hold 202 of the 294 records in scope — 68.7% of the field. By the tenth-ranked assignee that combined share reaches 82.0%, meaning the remaining 63 ranked filers split under a fifth of the corpus between them.
Steady low-volume filing, not a wave
Annual filing counts have stayed in the low single digits across the window, peaking at 4 records in 2022. That pattern, combined with fewer than four clean years of post-lag data, rules out any reliable growth-rate claim — this is a mature niche with occasional new entrants rather than a technology attracting a filing surge.
Microbial and enzymatic claims carry more weight than food-formulation claims
A23L food-composition language appears across nearly nine in ten records simply by virtue of scope, but the technical differentiation sits lower down: C12N microorganism and genetic-engineering claims reach 31.6% of records, ahead of A23J protein claims at 15.6% and C12P fermentation-synthesis claims at 15.0%.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to koji fermentation and soy sauce brewing, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the room still is
Filing concentration sits with a small group of long-established brewers and food-science majors; recent-year momentum has slowed across the named leaders, and several technically specific sub-areas remain thinly claimed.
One filer sits well ahead of the field
The top-ranked assignee holds 93 of the 294 records in scope, more than four times the fifth-place count of 18. That gap is the clearest signal in the dataset: this is a field with one dominant filer, a small group of secondary filers, and then a long tail.
Recent-year filing has gone quiet at the top
Every one of the leading assignees tracked for recent-year momentum shows zero filings in the latest year, consistent with the broader trend of low, non-accelerating annual volume. That does not mean the underlying research has stopped — publication lag means the most recent year is always the least complete picture.
Co-filing is limited and mostly bilateral
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, and the strongest of them link an individual inventor to a corporate assignee rather than two companies jointly filing. Cross-company collaboration is the exception here, not the pattern.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Kikkoman Corporation | 0 | — |
| Nestec S.A. | 0 | — |
| Yamasa Corporation | 0 | — |
| Societe des Produits Nestle S.A. | 0 | — |
| Nisshin Flour Milling Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Higeta Shoyu Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Ajinomoto Co., Inc. | 0 | — |
| CPC International Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The dataset points to a field where the claim space at the top is dense but the adjacent branches are still open.
Map the white space before drafting
Under-claimed branches like nitrogen-utilization control and mushroom-substrate fermentation sit next to heavily-claimed core process patents. A freedom-to-operate check against the leading assignees' claim scope, rather than the field generally, is the more useful first step.
Explore white space in EurekaTrack the quiet leaders
Zero recent-year filings from the named leading assignees does not mean inactivity — it may mean filings are still working through publication lag. Set up monitoring on the top assignees rather than relying on the visible trend line alone.
Set up assignee tracking in EurekaCommon questions on koji fermentation and soy sauce brewing patents
One assignee leads the field with 93 of the 294 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-place filer at 18 records. The top five assignees combined hold 68.7% of all records, and that concentration extends to 82.0% by the tenth-ranked filer. This means the field is dominated by a small group of established Japanese and multinational food-science companies, with a long tail of 63 ranked filers holding single or occasional filings.
Filing volume has stayed low and largely flat, moving from 1 record in 2017 to a peak of 4 records in 2022. There are fewer than four complete years of post-lag data to calculate a reliable growth rate, so no growth trend can be stated with confidence. What the data does show is a mature niche with steady, low-volume activity rather than a surge of new entrants.
A23L, covering foods and non-alcoholic beverages, appears in 89.8% of the 294 records, which follows directly from the search scope. Below that, C12N microorganisms and genetic engineering reaches 31.6% of records, ahead of A23J food proteins at 15.6% and C12P fermentation and enzymatic synthesis at 15.0%. Because records can carry multiple IPC classes, these figures describe overlapping claim coverage rather than a strict breakdown of the field.
The most heavily claimed ground sits in core Aspergillus starter and protease-activity process patents held by the leading assignees. Thinner claim density appears in areas like nitrogen-utilization optimization within moromi mash, thermostable enzyme engineering, and non-cereal substrate fermentation such as mushroom-based koji. These branches are technically specific enough to support a narrow, defensible first claim without running directly into the dominant filers' core process patents.
US20130280376A1, filed by Nestec S.A. and published in 2013, claims an enzyme preparation obtainable from koji fermentation of mushrooms with Aspergillus, and extends to mixtures of mushrooms and cereal fermented the same way. It is one of the more cited records in this dataset, meaning later filings in enzyme-preparation and substrate-mixture claims have had to differentiate around it. It does not block koji fermentation broadly, only the specific substrate and preparation route it claims, so cereal-only or non-Aspergillus approaches sit outside its scope.
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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.