Polymer Processing Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 11.3% concentration at the top. The five leading assignees combine for 1,446 of the 12,830 records in scope — a real lead, but not a lock on the field.
- Filing has pulled back from its 2017 peak. 577 records that year versus a -42% drop from 2021 (379) to 2024 (220), the last year of filings mature enough to read cleanly.
- Composition claims dominate, processing claims trail. C08L polymer compositions sit on 29.7% of records versus 13.4% for B29C shaping methods — the process side is comparatively open.
Filing growth compares 2021 (379 records) with 2024 (220) — 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 12,830 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent activity at the intersection of polymer processing and manufacturing with claims that touch material phase, surface layer, particle morphology, mechanical strength or crosslink density. That combination pulls in both composition-side chemistry — the resins, additives and crosslinking chemistries that set mechanical performance — and the shaping and forming methods used to turn those materials into parts. The scope spans 2015 through the 2026 cutoff, with 12,830 records in total.
Because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one or two years in any trend understate real activity — 2024 is the last year solid enough to compare against earlier peaks.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 12,830 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend: a 2017 peak, then a pullback
Filings peaked at 577 in 2017. By 2021 the field was filing 379 records a year, and by 2024 — the last year mature enough to compare — that had fallen to 220, a -42% move over the three-year span. Read the 2025-2026 tail with the publication lag in mind rather than as evidence the field has stopped.
Where the claims sit
C08L (polymer compositions) touches 29.7% of records, ahead of C08K additives (17.2%), C08J processing and solutions (16.9%) and C08F addition polymers (14.3%). B29C shaping methods (13.4%) and B32B laminates (12.9%) trail the composition classes, and A61L sterilising applications (7.0%) marks a smaller but distinct medical-adjacent cluster. Since records can carry multiple classes, these shares are read against the full record count, not against each other.
Shares are the percentage of the 12,830 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Polymer Processing Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about polymer processing patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this space
Method for producing an electrical power device by additive manufacturing techniques
Filed by Hitachi Energy in 2021, this record describes building an electrical power device from sequentially manufactured parts, where a target spatial distribution of a physical property — electrical or mechanical — is set in advance, and each subsequent part's properties are selected to differ from the prior part to match that distribution as the device is built up by additive manufacturing.Representative of records combining processing method claims with mechanical-property targeting rather than composition claims alone.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6838493B2 | Medical devices and applications of polyhydroxyalkanoate polymers | 1,833 |
| 2 | US6867248B1 | Polyhydroxyalkanoate compositions having controlled degradation rates | 1,629 |
| 3 | US7192450B2 | Porous membranes for use with implantable devices | 1,433 |
| 4 | US20080249608A1 | Bioabsorbable Polymer, Bioabsorbable Composite Stents | 1,179 |
| 5 | US20050112169A1 | Porous membranes for use with implantable devices | 1,060 |
| 6 | US7364592B2 | Biointerface membrane with macro-and micro-architecture | 983 |
| 7 | US6197575B1 | Vascularized perfused microtissue/micro-organ arrays | 776 |
| 8 | US7355089B2 | Compositions of ethylene/alpha-olefin multi-block interpolymer for elastic films and laminates | 753 |
| 9 | US20140291886A1 | Three dimensional printing | 750 |
| 10 | US20040206365A1 | Method for treatment of tissue | 732 |
Citation counts are drawn from within this searched corpus and skew toward older filings; treat them as a signal of influence on later filers, not a ranking of current commercial 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 filing strategy
Read together, the concentration figures, the filing trend and the class breakdown point to a field with an entrenched but not dominant top tier, a cooling filing rate off a 2017 peak, and claim density that sits much heavier on composition than on process.
A lead, not a lockout
The top 5 assignees combine for 1,446 of 12,830 records — 11.3% of the field. The top 10 add up to 17.6%. That leaves the large majority of filing activity spread across a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants, which is where freedom-to-operate work needs to focus rather than only on the named leaders.
Filing has pulled back from its peak
2017's 577 filings was the high point tracked here. By 2024, the last year mature enough to read reliably, annual filings had fallen to 220 from 379 in 2021 — a -42% move. Several of the field's most active historical filers show no filings in the latest tracked year, though that pattern is consistent with publication lag as much as with a genuine stop.
Composition is crowded, process less so
C08L polymer compositions cover 29.7% of records, more than double B29C shaping-of-plastics at 13.4%. C08J processing and solutions sits between the two at 16.9%. A filer with a genuinely novel processing method has more room to establish a clean position than one filing another composition variant.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to polymer processing patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gate sits
The ranked leaders account for a real but limited share of the field, and their most recent filings have gone quiet in the latest tracked year — a pattern to weigh against the 18-month publication lag rather than read as a retreat.
A clear but not dominant leader
The leading assignee holds 383 records, well ahead of fifth place at 210 and tenth place at 122. The gap between first and fifth narrows quickly, suggesting the leadership position is contestable rather than settled.
One dominant filing partnership
Ten co-assignee pairs appear in the data. The strongest, at 109 joint records, is far ahead of the next pairs (32 and 14), pointing to one deep structural collaboration rather than a broad pattern of joint filing across the field.
Leaders show a -100% YoY latest-year drop
Several of the most historically active assignees, including firms with long filing records in this space, show zero filings in the latest tracked year and a -100% year-over-year change. Given the publication lag, this is better read as a data-maturity gap than as leaders exiting the field.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| ExxonMobil Chemical Patents Inc | 0 | — |
| 3M Innovative Properties Co | 0 | -100% |
| Borealis AG | 0 | -100% |
| Dow Global Technologies LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Advanced Elastomer Systems LP | 0 | — |
| Fujifilm Holdings Corp | 0 | — |
| Borealis Tech Oy | 0 | — |
| Kuraray Co Ltd | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next questions rather than a single answer — which branches are still open, which claims are load-bearing, and how a freedom-to-operate check should be scoped.
Map the white space in processing claims
B29C and C08J shares are well below the composition classes. Before filing another composition variant, check whether the actual innovation is in the process step, where claim density is thinner.
Explore white space in Eureka →Check freedom-to-operate against the long tail
With only 17.6% of records held by the ranked top 10, most of the field sits with smaller filers. A freedom-to-operate review needs to reach past the named leaders.
Run an FTO scan in Eureka →Watch the 2025-2026 tail as it fills in
The apparent drop-off in the most recent years is partly a publication-lag artefact. Re-check filing momentum once 2025 filings have had time to publish.
Track filing momentum in Eureka →Common questions on the polymer processing patent landscape
The ranked leaders in this dataset span major chemical and materials companies including ExxonMobil Chemical, 3M, Borealis, Dow, Kuraray, Fujifilm and DuPont, among 100 ranked assignees. The leading assignee holds 383 records, but the top 5 combined account for only 11.3% of the 12,830 records in scope, and the top 10 for 17.6%. That means most filing activity sits with a long tail of smaller filers rather than a handful of dominant players, so a competitive review needs to look well past the named leaders.
Filing peaked in 2017 at 577 records and has trended down since; comparing 2021 (379 records) to 2024 (220 records), the last year mature enough to read reliably, shows a -42% drop. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025-2026 figures in any chart will look artificially low and should not be read as proof the field has stalled. The honest read is a cooling trend through 2024, with the most recent years still filling in.
The dominant classes are C08L (polymer compositions, 29.7% of records), C08K (additives, 17.2%), C08J (processing and solutions, 16.9%) and C08F (addition polymers, 14.3%), with B29C shaping methods (13.4%) and B32B laminates (12.9%) also well represented. A smaller but distinct cluster sits in A61L, sterilising and disinfecting applications, at 7.0%. Since a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages overlap and add up to more than 100%.
The clearest gap sits between composition and process: C08L composition claims cover nearly 30% of records while B29C shaping-method claims cover under 14%, meaning process-side innovation has comparatively less prior art to design around. Specific under-claimed pockets include crosslink density control methods, in-line particle morphology monitoring, and additive-manufactured mechanical-property gradients — areas that intersect processing and property control rather than restating known compositions. A prior-art search focused on the process claim, not just the material claim, is the fastest way to confirm how open a given approach really is.
US20210050716A1, assigned to Hitachi Energy, describes producing an electrical power device by additive manufacturing where a target spatial distribution of a physical property — electrical or mechanical — is set up front, and each subsequently built part is chosen to differ from the prior part to track that target distribution. It is a processing-method claim tied to property gradients built into a device during manufacture, rather than a composition or material claim. Anyone building additively manufactured parts with deliberately graded mechanical or electrical properties should read this record's claim scope closely before assuming a clear path.
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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.