Polyurethane Composite Reinforcement Patents: Filing Trends 2026
- Filing has declined since 2017. Publications peaked at 153 that year and had fallen to single digits by the most recent (partial) year — a mature, contracting filing pattern rather than a growth curve.
- Condensation-polymer chemistry dominates the claim space. C08G alone accounts for 878 records, well ahead of processing (C08J, 639) and shaping (B29C, 499), showing where prior art is thickest.
- Momentum has largely stopped even among the biggest names. Recent-year filings for the most prominent assignees sit at zero or one, with year-on-year drops as steep as -100%, suggesting active filers have moved on or consolidated positions.
Filing growth compares 2021 (103 records) with 2024 (71) — 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 3,878 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
A polymer field that has already crested
Polyurethane composite reinforcement covers the chemistry and processing used to fill, layer or fiber-reinforce polyurethane systems — filled elastomers, laminated composites, and additive-modified foams and resins. The search corpus spans 3,878 published records from 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, concentrated in condensation-polymer formulation (C08G), polymer processing (C08J), shaping (B29C), additive use (C08K) and layered products (B32B). A secondary cluster in A61B and A61M points to medical device applications — catheters, leads and implantable components — that lean on filled or reinforced polyurethane for mechanical and biocompatibility properties.
Filing volume peaked in 2017 at 153 records and has trended down since, reaching single digits in the final partial year of the dataset. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the last one to two years understate true filing activity, but the multi-year decline through the midpoint (64 records in 2022) is not an artifact of that lag alone — it reflects a field where core claim territory was staked out earlier in the period covered.
Let an AI agent run this analysis on your own technology
Pick a task. Every answer cites the patents behind it.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same corpus: publication volume over time, and where those publications sit across the IPC classification system.
Publications peaked early, then declined
From a high of 153 records in 2017, annual publication counts fell through a midpoint of 64 in 2022 and down to single digits by the most recent year. Read the final one to two years as understated given typical publication lag, but the multi-year downward slope through the middle of the range is a genuine signal of slowing activity, not a lag artifact.
Formulation chemistry outweighs shaping and processing
C08G (condensation polymers) leads at 878 records, ahead of C08J (polymer processing, 639), B29C (shaping of plastics, 499), C08K (additives, 494), C08L (polymer compositions, 491) and B32B (layered products, 448). The presence of A61B (249) and A61M (215) marks a distinct medical-device sub-cluster rather than noise — implantable leads, catheters and intervertebral devices recur among the most-cited records.
Shares are the percentage of the 3,878 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Polyurethane Composite Reinforcement with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about polyurethane composite reinforcement and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records and a representative claim
US5952053A — Process for producing filled polyurethane elastomers
Filed by The Willamette Valley Company, this 1999 patent covers a process for producing highly filled polyurethane elastomers while substantially reducing resin solid separation. It works by reacting a three-component polyurethane system built around a filled polyether polyol resin, lowering the viscosity of the uncured liquid mixture before curing to a substantially non-cellular filled elastomer.Abstract trimmed for length; see the full record for complete claim language.
View full record| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6999821B2 | Body implantable lead including one or more conductive polymer electrodes and methods for fabricating same | 1,009 |
| 2 | US5827324A | Distal protection device | 847 |
| 3 | US6123718A | Balloon catheter | 764 |
| 4 | US5489233A | Polishing pads and methods for their use | 715 |
| 5 | US20070050032A1 | Prosthetic intervertebral discs | 459 |
| 6 | US20050228500A1 | Prosthetic intervertebral disc and methods for using same | 386 |
| 7 | US5368035A | Ultrasound imaging guidewire | 379 |
| 8 | US5947940A | Catheter reinforced to prevent luminal collapse and tensile failure thereof | 339 |
| 9 | US5546948A | Ultrasound imaging guidewire | 323 |
| 10 | US5964807A | Compositions and methods for intervertebral disc reformation | 280 |
Citation counts inside this corpus favor older filings and should be read as a signal of influence within the searched set, not as a measure of current commercial importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for filing strategy
Three read-outs from the trend and classification data that matter more than the raw counts.
The field has already passed its filing peak
Annual publications fell from a 2017 peak of 153 to a midpoint of 64 in 2022 and down to single digits in the most recent partial year. Even allowing for publication lag understating the last year or two, the multi-year decline through the midpoint is a real signal: this is contracting claim activity, not a pause before a new wave.
Formulation chemistry, not shaping, is the densest prior art
C08G condensation-polymer claims outnumber the next subclass (C08J, 639) by a wide margin, and together with C08K and C08L, formulation-side chemistry claims outweigh shaping and layering claims (B29C, B32B). New filings aimed narrowly at formulation chemistry face the thickest prior art.
Even established filers have gone quiet
Assignees with historically strong positions show latest-year filing counts of zero or one, with year-on-year drops of -50% to -100%. That pattern is consistent with a field where core positions were established years ago and are now being maintained rather than expanded.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to polyurethane composite reinforcement, with the prior art for and against each one.
A concentrated early field with little recent movement
Assignee activity is dominated by a handful of materials and device companies whose filing has slowed sharply in the most recent years, alongside co-assignee pairs that point to specific commercial or research collaborations.
Large chemical suppliers have stopped adding volume
Assignees historically associated with polyurethane materials chemistry — including Dow, Evenik, Bayer MaterialScience and Covestro — show zero filings in the latest year captured, indicating that active claim-building in this specific search space has slowed even among companies with strong underlying portfolios elsewhere.
University-industry collaboration shows up in the co-filing data
The strongest co-assignee pair links a university regents body with a biomedical research center at 8 shared filings, and Bayer MaterialScience appears paired with named individual inventors at counts of 8 and 6 — a pattern typical of named-inventor filing practices at large chemical companies.
A device-side cluster sits alongside the materials cluster
The most-cited records in the corpus are dominated by implantable leads, catheters and intervertebral devices rather than pure materials patents, meaning influence within this searched set is currently held by device applications of filled or reinforced polyurethane, not by the base chemistry filings.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Dow Global Technologies | 1 | -50% |
| Evonik Operations GmbH | 0 | — |
| The Regents of the University of California | 0 | -100% |
| Bayer MaterialScience LLC | 0 | — |
| Covestro Deutschland AG | 0 | — |
| Ablation Systems Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Bayer AG | 0 | — |
| 3M Company | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with settled formulation chemistry and open questions mainly at the processing and device-integration edges.
Check freedom-to-operate against the formulation cluster first
With C08G, C08K and C08L together representing the densest claim territory, any new formulation-side filing should be checked against this cluster before shaping or layering claims are drafted.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaWatch the device-integration edge for fresh activity
The A61B/A61M cluster carries the highest-citation records in the set, suggesting continued relevance in medical-device integration even as base materials filing slows.
Track assignee activity in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
Filing activity has declined substantially from its 2017 peak of 153 published records to single digits in the most recent partial year, with a midpoint of 64 records in 2022. Publication lag of roughly 18 months means the very latest year understates true filing, but the multi-year downward trend through the midpoint is a genuine decline rather than a lag artifact. This points to a field where core claim territory was established earlier and is now being maintained rather than expanded, which matters for anyone deciding whether to invest in new filings here.
Condensation-polymer formulation chemistry, classified under IPC subclass C08G, is the largest single cluster at 878 records, ahead of polymer processing (C08J, 639), shaping of plastics (B29C, 499), additive use (C08K, 494) and polymer compositions (C08L, 491). Layered products and laminates (B32B, 448) form a further distinct cluster. A new filing aimed squarely at base formulation chemistry will face the thickest prior art of any sub-area in this dataset.
US5952053A, assigned to The Willamette Valley Company and dated 1999, covers a process for producing highly filled polyurethane elastomers that reduces resin solid separation by reacting a three-component system built around a filled polyether polyol resin. It specifically addresses lowering the viscosity of the uncured liquid reaction mixture before curing to a substantially non-cellular filled elastomer. Anyone working on filled-elastomer production processes with similar viscosity-reduction or separation-control mechanisms should review its claims closely rather than assume the patent is too old to matter, since process patents of this kind can still be cited as blocking prior art depending on jurisdiction and remaining term status.
The most-cited records in this corpus are held by companies working on implantable medical devices — leads, catheters, and intervertebral disc devices — rather than pure polyurethane materials suppliers, with citation counts reaching into the hundreds and, for the top record, over a thousand. This reflects that citation counts favor older, widely-referenced filings within a searched corpus and should be read as a measure of historical influence rather than current market leadership. Materials-side assignees such as Dow, Evonik, Bayer MaterialScience and Covestro appear in the assignee ranking but show little to no recent-year filing momentum.
The IPC distribution shows formulation chemistry and shaping claims are dense, but narrower process-level areas — such as filler dispersion process controls, low-viscosity filled polyol resin systems, and layered polyurethane-composite laminate bonding — show comparatively thinner claim density relative to the core clusters. These are not guaranteed-clear areas, but they sit adjacent to heavily claimed territory rather than inside it, which is typically where a first, narrowly drafted claim has the best chance of standing apart from existing prior art. A proper freedom-to-operate search against the specific target claim is still necessary before filing.
Research Polyurethane Composite Reinforcement in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole polyurethane composite reinforcement corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.