Secure Multiparty Computation Patents: Who Leads, Trends 2026
Secure Multiparty Computation Protocols: Patents, Leading Filers and Where Claim Space Is Still Open
Concentrated at the top. The top 5 assignees hold 33.6% of all 1,579 records in scope, and the top 10 hold 44.9% — filing is far from evenly spread. Publications rose from 59 in 2017 to a peak of 196 in 2021, then eased to 137 by 2024 — a -30% move across that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures (down to 14 so far in 2026) understate real filing activity because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months; treat the most recent two years as incomplete rather than as evidence of a slowdown.
- 1VISA INTERNATIONAL SERVICE ASSOCIATION10.8%
- 2GOOGLE LLC10.3%
- 3ADVANCED NEW TECHNOLOGIES CO LTD5.5%
- 4KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS NV3.7%
- 5HRL LAB3.3%
See the full secure multiparty computation protocols analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about this landscape
Who holds the most secure multiparty computation patents?
One assignee leads the ranked field with 170 records, well ahead of the fifth-ranked assignee at 52 and the tenth-ranked at 27. The top 5 assignees combined hold 33.6% of all 1,579 records in scope, and the top 10 hold 44.9%, so while there is a clear leader, well over half of the field is spread across a long tail of smaller filers. This concentration pattern matters for freedom-to-operate work: checking the leader’s specific claims first will catch a disproportionate share of relevant prior art.
Is filing activity in secure multiparty computation increasing or declining?
Filing rose from 59 published records in 2017 to a peak of 196 in 2021, then eased to 137 by 2024 — a 30% decline over that three-year span, using 2024 as the most recent complete year. Counts for 2025 and 2026 are lower still, but that reflects the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication rather than a genuine drop in activity. The honest read is that growth has cooled from its 2021 peak, not that the field is shrinking.
What patent classes cover secure multiparty computation protocols?
The dominant classes are H04L (digital information transmission), appearing on 69.9% of the 1,579 records, and G06F (electric digital data processing) at 47.2%. Narrower classes include G06N (AI-based computing, 11.5%), G06Q (business/commerce processing, 7.7%) and G09C (dedicated ciphering and secret communication, 4.7%). Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages add up to well over 100% and should be read as overlapping coverage rather than a breakdown of a whole.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Secure Multiparty Computation Protocols covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.