Linerless Label Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 57.7% concentration. The top 5 of 46 ranked assignees hold 207 of 359 records in scope — more than half the field sits with a handful of filers.
- Filings peaked in 2021. 35 records that year fell to 11 by 2024, a 69% drop across that three-year span, though 2025-26 counts are still filling in under publication lag.
- Adhesive and web-handling claims overlap heavily. 44.3% of records sit in G09F (displaying/signs), 35.7% in C09J (adhesives), and 34.5% in B65C (labelling) — most filings straddle at least two of these.
Filing growth compares 2021 (35 records) with 2024 (11) — 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 359 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the linerless label patent record shows
Linerless label technology removes the traditional release liner, replacing it with a release coating applied directly to the label facestock or the underside of the print, so the roll can self-wind without sticking. The engineering problem this creates is narrow but persistent: prevent roll blocking in storage and transit, keep the coating compatible with existing thermal or inkjet printer mechanisms, and manage the cutting or perforation step once there is no liner to guide it. The 359 records in scope, spanning 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, cluster around exactly these mechanical and chemical constraints rather than around the label’s end use.
Filing activity is concentrated both by company and by claim territory. A small group of assignees holds well over half of all records, and the technology composition data shows most filings sit across multiple IPC subclasses at once — an adhesive claim is rarely filed without an accompanying printer-compatibility or cutting-mechanism claim riding alongside it.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 359-record dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how records distribute across the eight IPC subclasses that recur most often in this search.
Filing trend: a 2021 peak, then a pullback
Filings rose to a peak of 35 records in 2021, then declined to 11 by 2024 — a 69% fall across that span. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete and should not be read as a continuation of the decline; they simply have not caught up yet.
Where claims concentrate: displays, adhesives, labelling
G09F (displaying, advertising & signs) covers 44.3% of the 359 records, C09J (adhesives) 35.7%, and B65C (labelling & franking) 34.5%. Because a single record can carry several IPC codes, these figures overlap rather than sum to 100% — most linerless label filings combine an adhesive or coating claim with a labelling-mechanism or display claim in the same document.
Shares are the percentage of the 359 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Linerless Label Technology with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about linerless label technology and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this field
Linerless label with starch based release coating and method of creating
The present invention is directed to a linerless label that utilizes a starch or starch ester based coating as a release coating. The release coating of the linerless label can be used to provide textural or aesthetic characteristics to the label in various patterns or arrangements as may be selected by the end user or manufacturer of the product.Filed by Ward Kraft, published 2005-11-17 as US20050255298A1 — illustrates the field's core mechanism: a coating layer that replaces the liner entirely rather than merely reducing its thickness.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6163260A | Linerless label tracking system | 124 |
| 2 | US5354588A | Linerless labels with tie coat | 108 |
| 3 | US5324078A | Removable linerless label zigzag and shingled constructions | 97 |
| 4 | US6585437B1 | Method and apparatus for reliable printing on linerless label stock | 91 |
| 5 | US5569515A | Printable linerless label and method for making same | 85 |
| 6 | US5853117A | Separator for linerless labels | 63 |
| 7 | US20070267146A1 | Thermally printable adhesive label | 60 |
| 8 | US5674626A | Release composition for printable linerless labels | 60 |
| 9 | US6033751A | Spliced linerless label web | 58 |
| 10 | US7176799B1 | Assembling pressure sensitive labels with RFID tags | 57 |
Citation counts favour older, foundational filings within this searched corpus — read them as a signal of influence on later filers, not as a ranking of current technical relevance.
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Three patterns stand out once the assignee ranking, filing trend and IPC composition are read together.
The field is led by a small group, not one dominant filer
The top 5 assignees combined hold 207 of the 359 records in scope, and the top 10 extend that to 264 records (73.5%). That leaves a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants competing for the remaining quarter of the field.
Filing volume has cooled from its 2021 peak
Records fell from a peak of 35 in 2021 to 11 in 2024, a 69% decline across that span. That drop should be read alongside publication lag: 2025-26 figures are not yet complete, so the true 2025 filing level is still understated in this dataset.
Most filings straddle displays, adhesives and labelling mechanics at once
With G09F, C09J and B65C each covering more than a third of the 359 records, the typical linerless label filing is not a pure chemistry patent or a pure mechanism patent — it is filed to protect both the coating and the printer- or cutter-facing claim in the same document.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to linerless label technology, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Moore Business Forms | PISTRO STEVE J | 1 |
| Moore Business Forms | CHEN XIN | 1 |
| Catchpoint Ltd | COOPER MICHAEL | 1 |
Only 3 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, each linked by a single shared record — evidence that most linerless label patents are filed by a single owner rather than through joint development.
Who holds the ground, and where it is still open
The leader in this ranking holds 64 records; fifth place holds 17 and tenth place holds 9 — a steep drop-off that signals a genuine leader-plus-long-tail structure rather than a flat field of equally sized competitors.
A single filer sits well ahead of the pack
The leading assignee's 64 records are more than triple the fifth-place count of 17, and more than seven times the tenth-place count of 9 — the steepest part of the concentration curve sits right at the top.
The mid-field thins out quickly
By the time the ranking reaches tenth place, record counts have fallen to single digits, and the top 10 combined still only reach 73.5% of all 359 records — the remaining 26.5% is scattered across 36 further ranked assignees.
No leading assignee shows fresh momentum in the most recent year
Every assignee tracked for recent-year momentum, including the field leader, shows zero filings in the latest year on record. Given the roughly 18-month publication lag, this is more likely an artefact of incomplete recent data than a genuine stop in R&D activity — but it means momentum cannot currently be read from this slice.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Moore Business Forms | 0 | — |
| UPM Raflatac Oy | 0 | -100% |
| Moore North America Inc | 0 | — |
| Dow Global Technologies LLC | 0 | — |
| Monarch Marking Systems | 0 | — |
| Avery Dennison Corp | 0 | — |
| Iconex LLC | 0 | — |
| Catchpoint Ltd | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a concentrated leader group, a cooling filing trend still working through publication lag, and claim territory that overlaps across adhesive, display and mechanism classes.
Map your own filings against the leader group
Check whether a planned filing sits inside the claim space already held by the top 5 assignees, or in one of the thinner sub-areas identified in the white-space chips above.
Explore the assignee ranking in EurekaWatch for the 2025-26 data catching up
The apparent decline from the 2021 peak is partly a publication-lag artefact. Re-check the trend once 2025 filings have had time to publish before drawing conclusions about slowing R&D.
Track filing trends in EurekaRead the most-cited filings before drafting claims
The five most-cited records in this dataset define the foundational claim territory in coatings, printing compatibility and construction. Understanding what they actually cover narrows the search for open space.
Review key patents in EurekaCommon questions about linerless label patents
The assignee ranking for this dataset covers 46 companies, and it is led by a single assignee with 64 records, well ahead of fifth place at 17 and tenth place at 9. The top 5 assignees combined hold 207 of the 359 records in scope (57.7%), and the top 10 extend that to 264 records (73.5%). This is a leader-plus-long-tail structure: a handful of companies control most of the claim territory, while the remaining ranked assignees each hold a small number of records.
Filing volume peaked in 2021 at 35 records and fell to 11 by 2024, a 69% decline across that three-year span. However, patent publication typically lags the underlying filing date by roughly 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in this dataset are still incomplete and understate true recent activity. Treat the apparent post-2021 decline as a real signal for 2022-2024, but wait for later data before concluding the field has gone quiet.
The dataset's IPC composition shows the heaviest concentration in G09F (displaying, advertising and signs) at 44.3% of the 359 records, C09J (adhesives) at 35.7%, and B65C (labelling and franking) at 34.5%. Supporting classes include B31D (paper article making), B65H (web and sheet handling), B32B (layered products), B41J (printers) and B41M (printing processes), each covering roughly 10-18% of records. Because records often carry multiple IPC codes, most filings combine a coating or adhesive claim with a mechanism or printer-compatibility claim in the same document.
A representative filing, US20050255298A1, claims a linerless label using a starch or starch-ester based coating as the release layer, applied to provide textural or aesthetic patterning as well as anti-blocking function. This illustrates the field's core mechanism: rather than reducing liner thickness, the release function is moved onto the label itself via a coating chemistry. Claims in this space typically specify the coating composition, its release performance against roll blocking, and compatibility with a stated printing or dispensing method.
Based on the IPC composition data, coverage is heaviest in adhesives, labelling mechanics and display-related claims, while narrower mechanical and chemistry sub-areas such as mesh-reinforced facestock, printer-compatible coating chemistries tuned to specific print engines, and liner-free cutting mechanisms show thinner representation relative to the core classes. These are not guaranteed to be open, but they sit outside the densest claim clusters identified in this dataset and are worth a freedom-to-operate check before filing.
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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.
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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.