Land Rig Hoisting & Drawworks Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Land Rig Hoisting and Drawworks Patents: Filing Trends, Leaders and White Space
Five companies hold 66.4% of the field. 3,998 of 6,020 records in scope sit with the top five assignees, with a long tail of single-digit filers behind them. Annual filings peaked at 439 in 2017. From a more recent baseline, output fell from 226 in 2021 to 116 in 2024, a 49% decline over three years. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete due to publication lag and should not be read as a continued slide.
- 1BAKER HUGHES CO2,613
- 2SCHLUMBERGER TECH CORP492
- 3HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES INC405
- 4NABORS DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES USA INC245
- 5SERVICES PETROLIERS SCHLUMBERGER SA243
See the full land rig hoisting and drawworks 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 on this landscape
Who holds the most patents on land rig drawworks and hoisting systems?
Filing in this space is heavily concentrated: the top-ranked assignee alone holds 2,613 of the 6,020 records in scope, and the top five assignees combined hold 66.4% of the field. The leaders are large oilfield services companies with decades of drilling-systems portfolios, not niche hoisting-equipment specialists. A newcomer should expect to file directly against this concentrated group rather than into open space.
Is patent filing activity in land rig hoisting growing or shrinking?
Annual filings peaked at 439 in 2017 and have since declined, falling from 226 in 2021 to 116 in 2024, a 49% drop over that three-year span. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around eighteen months, so the most recent years should not be read as continuing the same slope. The honest read is a field that has cooled from its peak but where several leading assignees are still filing every year.
What technology areas are covered under land rig hoisting and drawworks patents?
The bulk of records sit in earth and rock drilling classification (E21B, 76.0% of records) and geophysics/surveying (G01V, 29.4%), reflecting how closely hoisting hardware is claimed alongside broader drilling systems. Smaller but distinct clusters cover control and regulating systems (G05B, 2.7%), dedicated winches and capstans (B66D, 2.6%), and power/grid systems (H02J, 1.5%). Because a single record can carry multiple classifications, these shares add up to more than 100% of the 6,020-record base.
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 Land Rig Hoisting and Drawworks 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.