Meltblown Media Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 68.1% of all 72 records in scope sit with the five leading assignees, so most freedom-to-operate work reduces quickly to a short list of parties.
- Filings fell 75% from 2021 to 2024 (4 to 1), the last year the trend can be read as complete before publication lag thins out 2025 onward.
- D04H and B01D co-occur in most filings 62.5% and 58.3% of the 72 records respectively, showing nonwoven structure and separation-process claims are usually filed together, not separately.
Filing growth compares 2021 (4 records) with 2024 (1) — 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 72 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the filing record shows
Meltblown nonwoven filtration is a mature claim space with a small group of repeat filers and a long tail of single-filing entrants. The record set spans 72 published records from 2015 through the 2026 cutoff, concentrated in nonwoven web construction (D04H) and separation processes (B01D), with layered-product claims (B32B) and vacuum-cleaner appliance claims (A47L) forming a secondary cluster tied closely to household filtration hardware rather than industrial media.
Activity peaked in 2023 at 9 records and has since declined on the numbers that can be treated as complete, though the two most recent years are still filling in as publications catch up with filings made 18 months or more earlier. Receiving-office data shows filing is split across Europe, the United States, WIPO's PCT route, and a handful of national offices including Austria, Israel and India, which points to a field being protected regionally rather than through a single dominant jurisdiction.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 72-record set: how filing activity has moved year on year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose to a peak of 9 in 2023 before falling to 1 in 2024, a 75% drop from the 4 filed in 2021. 2025 and 2026 figures are not yet complete because of the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication, so the apparent decline in the newest years should not be read as a slowdown in the technology itself.
IPC subclass composition
D04H (nonwovens & felts) and B01D (separation processes) each appear in more than half of the 72 records, confirming that most filings combine web-construction claims with filtration-function claims in a single document. Smaller clusters in D01F (fibre features), G10K (acoustics) and A41D (garments) mark adjacent uses that are far less densely claimed.
Shares are the percentage of the 72 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Meltblown Media and Filtration Efficiency with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about meltblown media and filtration efficiency and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe prior art carrying the most citations
WO2021234659A1 — Electrostatically-charged elastomeric nonwoven material and mask made therewith
The disclosure relates to a nonwoven fabric including at least one layer of an electrostatically-charged elastomeric meltblown nonwoven material, the meltblown nonwoven material including at least 90% by weight of at least one elastomer, based on the total weight of the layer of electrostatically-charged elastomeric meltblown nonwoven material. Masks including the nonwoven fabric and methods of making the nonwoven fabric are also provided.Filed by North Carolina State University, published 2021-11-25. Combines electret charging with elastomeric meltblown composition, a pairing rare enough in this record set to be worth checking against before drafting claims that mix stretch recovery with charge retention.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EP0960645A2 | Vacuum cleaner bag or filter, and method of filtering a gas | 351 |
| 2 | US6171369B1 | Vacuum cleaner bag construction and method of operation | 186 |
| 3 | US20040077247A1 | Lofty spunbond nonwoven laminate | 127 |
| 4 | US6183536B1 | Enhanced performance vacuum cleaner bag and method of operation | 123 |
| 5 | US20060084341A1 | Meltblown nonwoven webs including nanofibers and apparatus and method for forming such meltblown nonwoven webs | 44 |
| 6 | US7501085B2 | Meltblown nonwoven webs including nanofibers and apparatus and method for forming such meltblown nonwoven webs | 28 |
| 7 | WO2004038116A1 | Lofty spunbond nonwoven laminate | 20 |
| 8 | EP0960645B1 | Vacuum cleaner bag or filter, and method of filtering a gas | 20 |
| 9 | US20040235380A1 | Cross-directionally stretched barrier fabrics and methods of making same | 16 |
| 10 | WO1999058041A2 | Vacuum cleaner bag and improved vacuum cleaner bag | 13 |
Citation counts favour older documents simply because they have had more time to be cited within this searched corpus; treat them as a signal of influence on later filings, not as a ranking of current technical 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 patterns stand out once the raw counts are read against each other: where claim density sits, what the trend actually says, and which prior art still shapes freedom to operate.
Most of the field sits with a handful of filers
The top five assignees combined account for 68.1% of all 72 records in scope, and the top ten reach 83.3%. A field this concentrated leaves little room for a new entrant to file broad structural claims on meltblown web formation without running into existing coverage.
Filing activity has cooled from its 2023 peak
Filings rose to 9 in 2023, the peak year so far, then fell to 1 in 2024 — a 75% drop from the 4 filed in 2021. Because publication lags filing by around 18 months, 2025 and 2026 counts are still incomplete and should not be read as confirming a continued decline.
Structure and function claims are usually filed together
D04H (nonwovens & felts) and B01D (separation processes) each cover more than half of the 72 records, meaning most applicants claim web construction and filtration performance in the same document rather than splitting them across separate filings.
Vacuum-bag filtration patents still anchor citation counts
The most-cited record in scope, EP0960645A2 on vacuum cleaner bag filtration, carries 351 citations — well ahead of the newer nanofiber meltblown record at 44. That gap reflects age within the corpus more than current relevance, but it still marks the baseline art that later filings had to distinguish from.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to meltblown media and filtration efficiency, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and how the ground is held
A ranked list of 28 companies makes up the assignee field, with activity dropping off sharply after the leading few. Recent-year momentum has flattened across the named leaders, which is consistent with the broader complete-year decline rather than any single company stepping back.
One filer holds a clear lead
The top-ranked assignee holds 29 records, well ahead of the fifth-placed filer at 4 and the tenth-placed filer at 2. That gap between first place and the rest is the sharpest concentration signal in the dataset.
Activity thins out fast after the leader
By fifth place, filing counts have dropped to 4 records, and by tenth place to just 2. The remaining 18 ranked companies each hold a small number of records, forming the long tail typical of a technically mature niche.
Recent-year filing has gone quiet across the top names
Every one of the leading assignees tracked for recent-year momentum shows zero filings in the latest year. Read alongside the 2024 complete-year count of 1, this looks like the industry-wide publication lag rather than a single company withdrawing from the space.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Airflo Euro | 0 | — |
| Kuraray Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. | 0 | — |
| W.R. Grace & Co.-Conn. | 0 | — |
| Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. | 0 | — |
| IDEE INNOVATIVE SRL | 0 | — |
| AIRFLO EUROPE NV (BE) | 0 | — |
| Ontex BV | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The dataset points to a concentrated core and a thin set of adjacent branches. Two directions follow from that.
Map freedom to operate against the leading assignees
With 68.1% of records held by the top five assignees, most drafting decisions in meltblown web construction or filtration function should start with a claim-by-claim check against those portfolios rather than a broad prior-art sweep.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTest claims in the under-claimed branches
Acoustic applications, elastomeric electret charging and nanofiber-augmented webs carry far fewer records than the D04H/B01D core, which is where narrower, defensible claims are more likely to clear examination.
Run a white-space search in EurekaCommon questions on meltblown media patents
It is highly concentrated at the top: the five leading assignees together hold 68.1% of all 72 records in scope, and the top ten reach 83.3%. The leading assignee alone holds 29 records, compared with 4 at fifth place and 2 at tenth. Below that sits a long tail of smaller filers, so most competitive analysis in this space can focus on a short list of names rather than the full 28-company ranking.
On the complete-year data, activity peaked at 9 records in 2023 and fell to 1 in 2024, a 75% drop from the 4 filed in 2021. However, publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset are still incomplete and should not be treated as proof of a continuing decline. The safest reading is that the field cooled from its 2023 peak, with the most recent trajectory not yet fully visible.
Nonwoven web construction (IPC class D04H) appears in 62.5% of the 72 records, and separation-process claims (B01D) appear in 58.3%, and the two are frequently claimed in the same document. Layered-product claims (B32B) and vacuum-cleaner appliance claims (A47L) form a secondary cluster tied to household filtration hardware. Smaller clusters cover fibre features, acoustic damping and garment integration, each well under 12% of records.
WO2021234659A1, filed by North Carolina State University and published in November 2021, claims an electrostatically-charged elastomeric meltblown nonwoven material containing at least 90% by weight of an elastomer, along with masks made from it and methods of production. It matters because it combines two features rarely paired in this record set: electret charging and elastomeric composition. Anyone drafting claims around stretch-recoverable, electrostatically charged meltblown media should check their claim scope against this filing directly.
The most-cited record in scope is EP0960645A2, a vacuum cleaner bag and filtration method with 351 citations, followed by US6171369B1 on vacuum cleaner bag construction at 186 citations. These citation counts are skewed toward older documents simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations within the searched corpus, so they mark historically influential art rather than current technical importance. A more recent record on nanofiber meltblown webs, cited 44 times, signals where newer designs are starting to build on that older foundation.
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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.