The ranked list covers 76 companies, with the leading assignee holding 17 of the 213 records in scope, a fifth-place holder at 11, and tenth place at 10. That taper means no single company controls the field outright, though the top 10 combined account for 58.2% of all records. A freedom-to-operate review should look beyond the top few names given how gradually the ranking declines.

Filings peaked at 22 in 2021 and fell to 2 by 2024, a 91% drop over that span, which is a genuine signal since 2024 is old enough to be largely complete in the data. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still filling in because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so it is premature to call the trend still falling. The honest read is that the field cooled sharply after 2021 and the more recent trajectory is not yet visible.

The dominant classes are H05K (printed circuits and assemblies) at 53.1% of the 213 records and H01L (semiconductor devices) at 31.9%, with B23K (welding, soldering and brazing) close behind at 31.5%. Printing-specific classes such as B41F (printing machines, 13.1%) and B41M (printing processes, 6.1%) are thinner, and alloy-focused C22C claims sit at 8.5%. Because records can carry multiple classes, these shares add up to more than 100% and should not be read as mutually exclusive categories.