Powder Coating Patents: Who Leads, Where Filings Cooled 2026
- Filings have cooled, not grown. Annual filings peaked at 28 in 2017 and had fallen to a midpoint of 12 by 2022 — this is a maturing field, not an expanding one.
- Claim density sits in the resin chemistry, not the equipment. C09D coating compositions account for 1,041 of 1,252 records versus 98 for B05C coating apparatus, so formulation is where prior art is thickest.
- The oldest cited patents still carry the most weight. The two most-cited records date to 1994 and 2000, a reminder that citation counts favour age over current relevance.
What the powder coating patent record shows
Powder coating patenting covers electrostatic application methods, resin and curing-agent formulations, and the additive packages that control transfer efficiency, cure temperature, film smoothness and edge coverage. The search underlying this page pulls 1,252 patent families filed between 2015 and 2026 across IPC classes C09D, B05D, C08G, C08L, C08K, B05C, C08F and C08J. Low-bake formulation is the recurring technical thread tying the composition classes to the application classes.
Filing activity is concentrated in coating composition classes rather than application hardware, and the annual filing count has declined from its 2017 peak. Publication typically lags filing by around eighteen months, so the final one or two years in any trend understate real activity, but the multi-year decline visible here predates that lag effect.
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Filing trend and technology composition
1,252 patent families filed 2015-2026, classified across eight IPC subclasses and six major receiving offices.
Filings rose to a 2017 peak, then declined
Annual filings climbed to a peak of 28 in 2017, sat at a midpoint of 12 by 2022, and have continued to soften into the most recent, still-partial year. That pattern is consistent with a field where the core chemistry is largely claimed and new entrants are filing narrower, incremental improvements rather than foundational compositions.
Composition claims dominate the IPC mix
C09D (coatings, paints and inks) covers 1,041 of the 1,252 records, more than double the combined B05D coating-process count of 418. The additive and polymer-composition classes C08K, C08L, C08F and C08J trail well behind, suggesting that most inventive effort has gone into the coating composition itself rather than into apparatus or downstream polymer processing.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,252 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Powder Coating Technology with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about powder coating technology and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited prior art and a representative filing
US5747150A — Electrostatic powder coating method (Nippon Paint Co., Ltd., 1998-05-05)
An electrostatic powder coating method forms an undercoating film with volume specific resistivity of not more than 10^13 ohm-cm and a thickness of not more than 200 micrometres on a metal surface, then forms an overcoating layer on the undercoating film by electrostatic powder coating. The undercoating film is composed of multiple layers, with only the top layer containing a conductive material.The multi-layer, resistivity-controlled undercoat is the mechanism worth checking against any new electrostatic multi-coat design.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6068797A | Method of preparing a shaped article having a photochromic coating thereon | 231 |
| 2 | US6184311B1 | Powder coating composition of semi-crystalline polyester and curing agent | 202 |
| 3 | US5552487A | Method for powder coatings | 117 |
| 4 | WO1991014745A1 | Coating compositions | 109 |
| 5 | US4499239A | Resin composition for powder coating | 92 |
| 6 | US5743958A | Vehicle powder coating system | 89 |
| 7 | US6218483B1 | Powder coating of epoxy resin, imidazole-epoxy resin catalyst or polyamine, polyamine powder and amine scaven… | 79 |
| 8 | US4988767A | Thermosetting powder coating composition containing a mixture of low Tg and high Tg polymers with acid functi… | 79 |
| 9 | US7432333B2 | Powder coating of amino-urea or urethane catalyst and epoxy/hydroxy and/or siloxane resin | 78 |
| 10 | US7470752B2 | Powder coating of amino-urea or urethane catalyst and epoxy and/or siloxane resin | 77 |
Citation counts reward age within a searched corpus; a 1994 or 2000 filing accruing over a hundred citations reflects decades of subsequent art building on it, not that the compound claims are still the tightest available.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once family counts, IPC composition and receiving-office data are read together.
A field past its filing peak
Annual filings fell from a 2017 peak of 28 to a midpoint of 12 by 2022, and the latest partial year sits far lower still. New filers are entering a space where the composition fundamentals are largely staked out.
Composition claims dwarf apparatus claims
Coating composition art (C09D) outnumbers coating apparatus art (B05C) by more than ten to one. Anyone entering with an equipment-side innovation faces a thinner prior-art field than a formulation entrant does.
Filing is US- and Europe-led
The United States (306) and the European Patent Office (262) lead receiving-office counts, with WIPO PCT filings (137) well behind. Canada, Japan and Australia each sit below 125, indicating this is not primarily an Asia-first filing pattern for this specific claim set.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to powder coating technology, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Valspar Sourcing, Inc. | Sherwin-Williams Investment Management Company | 5 |
| BASF Corporation | OHRBOM WALTER | 4 |
| DSM IP Assets B.V. | JANSEN JOHAN FRANZ GRADUS ANTONIUS | 3 |
| International Coatings Limited | KITTLE KEVIN JEFFREY | 2 |
| Valspar Sourcing, Inc. | VON MAIER MARK S | 2 |
| Valspar Sourcing, Inc. | ROMAGNOLI KEVIN | 2 |
| Valspar Sourcing, Inc. | OBRIEN ROBERT M | 2 |
| Valspar Sourcing, Inc. | NIEDERST JEFFREY | 2 |
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the corpus, and the strongest pairing recurs just 5 times — this is a field of largely independent filers, not joint-development consortia.
Who is filing, and where momentum has stalled
Recent-year filing counts show a field where even the most active historical filers have gone quiet.
The most active filer barely filed last year
PPG Industries Ohio recorded just 1 filing in the latest year, a 0% year-over-year change. Every other tracked assignee, including Valspar Sourcing, BASF, Nordson and DSM IP Assets, recorded zero filings in the same period.
Independent filing, not joint ventures
With only 10 co-assignee pairs identified and the strongest recurring just 5 times (Valspar Sourcing with Sherwin-Williams Investment Management), most powder coating art is filed by single organisations rather than through formal collaboration.
Older filings still anchor the field
The most-cited record in the dataset dates back decades and continues to accumulate citations, a pattern typical of foundational compositions rather than of current filing activity.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| PPG Industries Ohio, Inc. | 1 | 0% |
| International Coatings Limited | 0 | — |
| Valspar Sourcing, Inc. | 0 | — |
| BASF Corporation | 0 | — |
| Nordson Corporation | 0 | — |
| DSM IP Assets B.V. | 0 | — |
| Akzo Nobel Coatings International B.V. | 0 | -100% |
| Nippon Paint Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing or new formulation work.
Screen the apparatus classes for white space
B05C coating apparatus and B05D coating process together trail the composition classes by a wide margin, suggesting room for narrowly claimed equipment or process improvements that avoid the densest composition prior art.
Explore IPC white space in EurekaMap claims against the highest-cited records
Before drafting new composition claims, checking language against the small set of highest-cited patents in this corpus shows what has already been broadly claimed and cited for decades.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaTrack the few assignees still filing
With most tracked assignees at zero filings in the latest year, any renewed activity from PPG Industries Ohio or a new entrant is worth monitoring closely as an early signal of a shift.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaCommon questions about powder coating patents
Recent-year data shows PPG Industries Ohio as the only tracked assignee with any filing activity in the latest year, though at just 1 filing and 0% year-over-year growth. Historically active filers including Valspar Sourcing, BASF, Nordson, DSM IP Assets and Sherwin-Williams Investment Management all show zero filings in the same period. This pattern suggests the field's major players are consolidating existing portfolios rather than actively expanding claim coverage.
Filing activity has declined since a 2017 peak of 28 annual filings, falling to a midpoint of 12 by 2022 and continuing lower into the most recent partial year. Because publication lags filing by roughly eighteen months, the very latest year always understates true activity, but the multi-year downward trend predates that lag. Overall the data points to a maturing technology area rather than one still in active growth.
Coating composition art sits in IPC class C09D, which accounts for 1,041 of the 1,252 records in this dataset. Coating process and apparatus art (B05D and B05C) trail well behind at 418 and 98 records respectively. This means most inventive and legal activity concentrates on resin, curing-agent and additive formulations rather than on application hardware or process equipment.
US5747150A, assigned to Nippon Paint, claims an electrostatic powder coating method using a multi-layer undercoating film with controlled volume specific resistivity and thickness, where only the top layer contains conductive material. Anyone designing a multi-coat electrostatic system with a similar resistivity-controlled, layered undercoat should check claim scope against this filing specifically. It illustrates the kind of layered-structure and resistivity-parameter claiming that recurs across the corpus's application-method patents.
The clearest gap sits between the heavily claimed composition classes (C09D at 1,041 records) and the comparatively thin apparatus and processing classes (B05C at 98, C08J at 84). Low-bake cure catalyst systems, edge-coverage additive packages, and resistivity-controlled apparatus design all show lighter prior art density than core resin formulations. These branches are worth screening first for freedom-to-operate before committing to a formulation-heavy filing strategy.
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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.