Marine Antifouling Coatings Patents: Leaders, Trends & White Space 2026
- Filing has cooled after a 2024 peak. Filings ran 5 in 2017 to a peak of 21 in 2024 before dropping toward the 2026 cut-off, a curve more consistent with a maturing, consolidating field than an expanding one.
- China now files more than any other office. China leads receiving-office volume at 56 filings, ahead of Europe at 53 and the United States at 36 — a shift worth tracking if you are only watching EPO and USPTO dockets.
- The core chemistry is crowded; the biology and hardware around it are not. C09D coating-composition claims cover all 270 families, while B63B vessel-integration and A01K fouling/fishing-adjacent filings sit at 12 and 11 — a fraction of the coating-chemistry volume.
What the patent record shows about antifouling coatings
Marine antifouling coatings sit at the intersection of polymer chemistry, biocide regulation and hull hydrodynamics. The dataset behind this page covers 270 patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026, filtered to documents that combine coating-composition claims with language on biocide release, silicone fouling release, drag reduction, service life or environmental regulation. That combination is deliberate: a coating claim alone says little about whether the invention addresses long-term fouling performance or regulatory pressure on tin- and copper-based biocides.
Because publication lags filing by roughly eighteen months, the drop-off visible in the most recent years understates real filing activity — 2026 in particular is a partial year, not a genuine decline to zero. The more reliable read is the shape of the curve from 2017 through the 2024 peak, and the composition of IPC subclasses beneath the headline coating-composition figure.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 270-family dataset: how filing volume moved year over year, and how that volume splits across the IPC subclasses that make up an antifouling coating claim.
Filings rose to a 2024 peak, then eased
From 5 families in 2017 to a peak of 21 in 2024, with the 2022 midpoint at 6 — a flat-to-declining trajectory once the partial 2025-2026 window is discounted for publication lag rather than read as a real collapse in activity.
Coating chemistry dominates; hardware and biocide science trail
Every family in this dataset carries a C09D coating-composition classification. Addition polymers (C08F, 44) and condensation polymers (C08G, 38) supply most of the underlying resin chemistry, while B63B vessel-integration claims (12) and A01N biocide-specific claims (19) are comparatively thin — a sign that most inventive effort is going into the coating formulation itself rather than into how it is applied to a hull or how the active agent is engineered.
Shares are the percentage of the 270 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Marine Antifouling Coatings with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about marine antifouling coatings and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe prior art carrying the most citation weight
EP3831898A1 — Antifouling coating composition and repair method
The filing targets a specific failure mode: recoating an aged antifouling film whose active agent has already eluted, leaving a fragile surface layer. It claims a composition designed to be coated directly over that degraded layer while still delivering long-term antifouling performance and an acceptable surface appearance, plus a repair method for reworking aged coating systems in service rather than requiring full removal.Filed by Chugoku Marine Paints Ltd., published 2021-06-09.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5571312A | Environmentally safe epoxy adhesive-copper hull coating and method | 66 |
| 2 | CN104845521A | UV固化涂料、耐磨防污涂层及含耐磨防污涂层的手机保护膜 | 65 |
| 3 | US20150353741A1 | Antifouling system comprising silicone hydrogel | 55 |
| 4 | EP1323745A2 | Acrylic resin and antifouling coating | 39 |
| 5 | WO2014126599A1 | Antifouling system comprising silicone hydrogel | 38 |
| 6 | CN105385349A | 一种疏水防污有机聚硅氮烷涂料及其制备方法和应用 | 29 |
| 7 | US20050065232A1 | Antifouling paint composition, antifouling paint films, and, ships, underwater underwater structures, fishing… | 28 |
| 8 | WO2014126643A1 | Antifouling system comprising silicone hydrogel | 27 |
| 9 | WO2001094446A1 | Antifouling coating composition comprising a fluorinated resin | 26 |
| 10 | US5336304A | Environmentally safe epoxy adhesive-copper hull coating and method | 22 |
Citation counts accumulate over time, so older records such as the 1996 epoxy-copper hull coating patent are structurally favoured over recent filings. Read this table as a map of influential prior art, not as a ranking of current importance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns in this dataset matter more than the raw counts: where filing volume is actually going, which office is setting the pace, and how thin the claim coverage is once you move past core coating chemistry.
Growth has flattened, not disappeared
Filings climbed from 5 in 2017 to a 2024 peak of 21, with the 2022 midpoint at only 6. The apparent falloff toward 2026 is largely a publication-lag artefact on a partial year, but the shape through 2024 already reads as a maturing field rather than one still accelerating.
China has overtaken the traditional EPO/US axis
China now receives more antifouling coating filings than either Europe or the United States, with Singapore, Norway and Australia also carrying meaningful volume. A strategy built only around EPO and USPTO filings is missing the largest single office in this dataset.
Coating chemistry is dense; application hardware is not
Every family touches C09D coating-composition claims, but only 12 extend into B63B vessel/hull-integration territory and 19 into A01N biocide-specific claims. The formulation space is heavily occupied; how the coating is engineered onto a hull, and how the biocide itself is designed, are comparatively open.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to marine antifouling coatings, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| International Paint Ltd. | Ausimont S.p.A. | 8 |
| Nippon Paint Marine Coatings Co., Ltd. | Nippon Paint Co., Ltd. | 5 |
| Nippon Paint Marine Coatings Co., Ltd. | Nippon Paint Holdings Co., Ltd. | 4 |
| Akzo Nobel Coatings International B.V. | SOLOMON TREVOR | 1 |
| Akzo Nobel Coatings International B.V. | SINCLAIR DAY JOHN DAVID | 1 |
| Akzo Nobel Coatings International B.V. | MILLICHAMP IAN STUART | 1 |
| Akzo Nobel Coatings International B.V. | FINNIE ALISTAIR ANDREW | 1 |
| Akzo Nobel Coatings International B.V. | DI LULLO CLAUDIO ARGENTINO | 1 |
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, and the strongest pairing files together 8 times — co-development here is the exception, run by a handful of established coatings groups, not a broad industry norm.
Who holds the claim space, and where filing has gone quiet
Recent-year momentum is flat across every assignee tracked in this dataset — a signal to weigh against raw family counts, since it means today's incumbents are not the ones currently adding new filings.
Volume sits with established marine-coatings groups
The assignee ranking is built from the full 270-family set, and it is led by the traditional marine and industrial coatings majors rather than new entrants. That concentration makes freedom-to-operate searches around core silicone- and biocide-release chemistry a priority before filing.
A small cluster files jointly; most do not
Ten co-assignee pairs exist across the whole dataset. The strongest pairing, an international coatings group working with a specialty-materials partner, co-files 8 times — well above the next pairings at 4-5 — suggesting a specific technical collaboration rather than an industry-wide pattern.
The named leaders show zero recent-year filings
Every major assignee tracked for momentum — the large coatings groups and paint majors that dominate the historical count — shows zero filings in the latest year. Combined with the 2024 peak, this points to a lull rather than sustained retreat, but it also means the current leaderboard may not reflect who is actually active now.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Akzo Nobel Coatings International B.V. | 0 | — |
| Nippon Paint Marine Coatings Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Chugoku Marine Paints, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Nippon Paint Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Momentive Performance Materials Inc. | 0 | — |
| International Paint Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Jotun Group | 0 | — |
| Nippon Paint Holdings Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with dense coating-chemistry prior art but thinner coverage in application hardware and biocide-carrier design. The next steps depend on whether you are filing, clearing, or scouting partners.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on silicone fouling-release claims
The most-cited records in this dataset are concentrated in silicone hydrogel and acrylic-resin antifouling systems, which means new formulation claims in that space are most likely to collide with existing coverage.
Search this claim space in EurekaExplore the vessel-integration and biocide-carrier gap
B63B and A01N filings are a small fraction of the C09D coating-composition volume, suggesting under-claimed ground in how coatings are applied to hulls and how active agents are engineered for controlled release.
Map white space in EurekaTrack China's receiving-office lead going forward
China now receives more filings than the EPO or the US in this dataset, so a monitoring strategy limited to Western offices will miss a growing share of new activity.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaCommon questions on marine antifouling coating patents
The assignee ranking in this 270-family dataset is led by established marine and industrial coatings groups rather than new entrants — the same companies that have historically supplied hull paint to shipping and offshore markets. Their filing volume is heavily weighted toward coating-composition claims under C09D. However, recent-year momentum data shows every one of these leading assignees at zero filings in the latest tracked year, so the historical leaderboard should not be read as a guide to who is currently most active.
Filings rose from 5 in 2017 to a peak of 21 in 2024, with the 2022 midpoint at only 6, which is a growth curve rather than a flat one through most of the period. The apparent decline toward 2026 is partly a publication-lag artefact, since patent applications typically take about eighteen months to publish and 2026 is a partial year in this dataset. Taken together, the honest read is a field that grew steadily to 2024 and has since flattened, not one in freefall.
EP3831898A1, filed by Chugoku Marine Paints Ltd., claims an antifouling coating composition designed to be applied directly over an aged, degraded antifouling film — one where the active agent has already eluted and left a fragile surface layer — while still delivering long-term antifouling performance and acceptable appearance, plus a corresponding repair method. It is narrow in the sense that it targets recoating over aged films specifically, not fresh-hull application generally. New filings targeting fresh-hull application, different resin chemistries, or repair methods that do not rely on the same over-coating mechanism would sit outside its core claims, though a full claim-by-claim comparison is needed before relying on that distinction.
Based on IPC composition, the coating-chemistry core (C09D, covering all 270 families) is dense, while adjacent branches are comparatively thin: B63B vessel and hull-integration claims sit at only 12 families, A01N biocide-specific claims at 19, and A01K fishing/aquaculture-adjacent fouling control at 11. That gap suggests more room to claim around how a coating is engineered onto hull hardware or how a biocide carrier is designed, than around the base resin formulation itself, where prior art is already crowded.
China leads receiving-office volume in this dataset at 56 filings, ahead of the European Patent Office at 53 and the United States at 36, with Singapore, Norway and Australia also carrying meaningful counts. That ordering is a change from the traditional assumption that EPO and USPTO filings alone capture the competitive picture in marine coatings. Any freedom-to-operate or monitoring strategy limited to Western offices risks missing a growing share of filings now going through China.
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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.