Solar Control Glazing Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 52.0% concentration. The top 5 of 46 ranked assignees account for 106 of 204 records in scope — over half the field sits with a handful of filers.
- Filing nearly doubled. Annual filings rose from 4 in 2021 to 8 in 2024, a +100% increase over that three-year span, even as the leading assignees show flat or declining recent-year activity.
- Layered products dominate the claim space. B32B (layered products) and C03C (glass compositions) each cover roughly half of all 204 records, while G01S positioning and E06B architectural fittings sit under 10% — a much thinner claim layer.
Filing growth compares 2021 (4 records) with 2024 (8) — 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 204 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Solar control and coated glazing sits at the intersection of glass chemistry, thin-film coating and vehicle or building integration. The dataset in scope spans 204 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from a search combining solar control glazing and infrared reflective coating terms with functional criteria like solar transmittance, edge deletion and thermal comfort. That combination captures both the coating stack itself and the downstream requirements — antenna transparency, coating durability, air conditioning load reduction — that automotive and architectural glazing teams actually have to satisfy.
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in this dataset are still filling in and should not be read as a slowdown. The years worth trusting for trend reading run through 2024.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 204 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and how the technology splits across IPC subclasses. Neither view should be read as a ranking on its own — pair them with the assignee table below.
Filing activity, 2017–2026
Filings peaked at 21 in 2018, dipped, then rebuilt to 8 by 2024 — a +100% rise from the 2021 low of 4. Treat 2025 and 2026 as undercounted rather than declining, given the typical 18-month publication lag.
IPC subclass composition
B32B (layered products, 51.5% of records) and C03C (glass and enamel compositions, 49.0%) anchor the field, with G02B optical elements a distant third at 22.1%. Positioning-adjacent classes like G01S (9.3%) and coating-deposition class C23C (7.8%) are present but thin, which is where less-crowded claim space tends to sit.
Shares are the percentage of the 204 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Solar Control and Coated Glazing with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about solar control and coated glazing and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
WO2025008290A1 — Solar control laminated glazing (AGC Glass Europe)
The present invention concerns a laminated solar control glazing comprising an outer glass pane and an inner glass pane, united by a thermoplastic intercalating sheet and a solar control coating applied to at least part of the inside face of the outer glass, the solar control coating being such that the exterior visible light reflectance of the laminated solar control glazing RLext is at least 35% and the exterior solar energy reflectance REext is at least 45%.Filed by AGC Glass Europe, published January 2025 — illustrates the current claim style: functional reflectance thresholds tied to a specific layer stack rather than a bare composition claim.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20100235206A1 | Methods and Systems for Modular Buildings | 297 |
| 2 | US6391400B1 | Thermal control films suitable for use in glazing | 257 |
| 3 | US20070009714A1 | Polymeric interlayers having a wedge profile | 203 |
| 4 | US5332888A | Sputtered multi-layer color compatible solar control coating | 178 |
| 5 | US5552180A | Multilayer heat processable vacuum coatings with metallic properties | 163 |
| 6 | US20080291541A1 | Light redirecting solar control film | 134 |
| 7 | US20080292820A1 | Light diffusing solar control film | 115 |
| 8 | US20080160321A1 | Single pane glazing laminates | 101 |
| 9 | WO2018015312A1 | Glass for autonomous car | 91 |
| 10 | EP0536607A2 | Heat processable metallic appearing coatings | 80 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and favour older filings; they are not a measure 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 data means for a filing decision
Three patterns stand out once the records are grouped by assignee, class and geography.
Filing sits with a small group, but not a monopoly
The leader holds 42 records and fifth place holds 10 — a steep drop-off rather than a plateau. That gap suggests the leader's claim scope is broad enough to deter volume filing by others in adjacent positions, while positions six through forty-six file in smaller, more targeted batches.
Growth has resumed, but not from the historic leaders
The overall filing count nearly doubled from 2021 to 2024, yet several of the highest-ranked assignees show 0 filings in the latest tracked year with year-over-year declines. That combination points to new or smaller entrants driving the recent uptick rather than the incumbents extending their positions.
Layered-product claims crowd the core; positioning integration stays thin
Over half of records touch B32B layered-product classification and roughly half touch C03C glass composition, meaning most activity claims the coating stack or the glass chemistry itself. G01S (radar/positioning) and E06B (architectural fittings) each sit near or under 10%, indicating antenna-transparency and building-integration angles are claimed far less densely.
Filing is split across Europe and the US, with PCT close behind
European and US receiving offices carry similar volumes, and WIPO PCT filings (33) sit close behind both, indicating most serious filers are pursuing multi-jurisdiction protection rather than a single home market.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to solar control and coated glazing, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where they are not
The ranked leaders concentrate volume at the top, but recent-year momentum has shifted away from the names that built that lead.
One assignee holds close to a fifth of the field
With 42 of 204 records, the top assignee's share dwarfs the fifth-place count of 10, giving it outsized influence over how the core coating-stack claims are drawn. Recent-year momentum data shows this assignee at 0 filings in the latest tracked year, a -100% year-over-year change — consistent with a mature portfolio rather than active expansion.
A small inventor cluster anchors the historic core patents
Ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with three pairings tied at the strongest link of 7 shared filings each, all involving the same lead inventor. That clustering matches the era of the most-cited prior art in this landscape, suggesting a single R&D group defined much of the foundational coating-stack claim language.
Most ranked assignees hold single-digit filing counts
The top 10 combined account for 71.6% of the 204 records in scope, which means the remaining 36 ranked assignees share the rest — typically in small, specific filings rather than broad platform claims. That long tail is where narrower, application-specific opportunities tend to surface.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| AGC Glass Europe | 0 | -100% |
| 3M Innovative Properties Co. | 0 | — |
| E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. | 0 | — |
| Saint-Gobain Vitrage SA | 0 | — |
| Central Glass Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Council of Scientific & Industrial Research | 0 | — |
| Libbey Owens Ford Co. | 0 | — |
| HAYES RICHARD A | 0 | — |
Turning this landscape into a filing decision
Reading a static landscape tells you where the field has been. Two follow-up steps determine what it means for a filing you are drafting now.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on the specific claim language
Concentration figures show where volume sits, but only a claim-by-claim comparison against the leader's granted scope shows whether a proposed filing actually clears it.
Check claim scope in EurekaTrack the assignees still filing, not just the largest ones
Several top-5 assignees show flat or declining recent-year activity while overall filings grew — the useful signal now is who is filing in the last 12–18 months, not who filed the most historically.
Monitor active filers in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The dataset ranks 46 assignees by record count, with the leader holding 42 of 204 records and the top 5 combined accounting for 52.0% of all records in scope. That is a steep concentration curve rather than an even spread — fifth place holds only 10 records, a large drop from the leader. Recent-year momentum data shows several of these historically dominant assignees at zero filings in the latest tracked year, so leadership by cumulative count does not necessarily mean current activity.
Filings rose from 4 in 2021 to 8 in 2024, a +100% increase, after an earlier peak of 21 filings in 2018. The apparent drop-off in 2025 and 2026 should not be read as a slowdown, because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months and those years are still filling in. The most recent year that can be treated as a complete, comparable data point is 2024.
Two IPC subclasses anchor the field: B32B, covering layered products and laminates, appears in 51.5% of the 204 records, and C03C, covering glass and enamel compositions, appears in 49.0%. G02B optical elements follow at 22.1%. Because a single patent record can carry multiple IPC classes, these percentages add up to more than 100%, which is expected and simply reflects overlapping claim scope.
The classes with the thinnest coverage relative to the core B32B and C03C classes are G01S (radar and positioning, 9.3% of records), E06B (architectural doors and windows, 9.3%), and C23C (coating deposition, 7.8%). These intersections — antenna-transparent coatings, edge-deletion process integration, and coating durability under real-world thermal cycling — carry far less filing density than the core coating-stack claims, making them worth a closer look before assuming the space is occupied. A thin class share is not proof of an open filing path, though; it should be confirmed with a specific freedom-to-operate search.
WO2025008290A1, filed by AGC Glass Europe and published in January 2025, claims a laminated solar control glazing built from an outer and inner glass pane joined by a thermoplastic interlayer, with a solar control coating on the inside face of the outer pane. The claim is tied to specific functional thresholds — exterior visible light reflectance of at least 35% and exterior solar energy reflectance of at least 45% — rather than a bare composition or process claim. That functional-threshold style is typical of how recent filings in this space differentiate from the older, more general coating-stack patents that dominate the most-cited list.
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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.