Spray Adjuvant Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- Concentrated at the top. The five leading assignees hold 146 of 331 records in scope (44.1%), and the ranked leaders' top ten account for 62.5%.
- Filing has cooled from its 2019 peak. Annual filings peaked at 27 in 2019 and stood at 16 by 2024, a 16% decline over 2021-2024 even before the most recent, still-incomplete years are added.
- One IPC class dominates the mix. A01N biocide claims appear in 73.7% of the 331 records, while adjacent classes like C08G condensation polymers sit under 5%, a sign of where claim space is still thin.
Filing growth compares 2021 (19 records) with 2024 (16) — 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 331 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Spray adjuvants and drift reduction agents sit at the intersection of formulation chemistry and application engineering: surfactants and polymers that change how a spray droplet forms, travels and sticks. The search underlying this page pulls records that combine adjuvant or drift-reduction terminology with the practical performance metrics that matter in the field — droplet spectrum, nozzle selection, surface tension, drift potential, leaf deposition and rainfastness. That combination narrows the corpus to filings that address real application outcomes rather than agrochemical formulations generally.
331 published records fall within scope, spanning 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, filing activity in the most recent one to two years is undercounted in this dataset and should be read as a floor, not a ceiling.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 331 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose to a peak of 27 in 2019, then eased; the 2021-2024 span shows a 16% decline (19 to 16 records), and 2025-2026 figures are still filling in under normal publication lag.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
A01N biocide claims dominate at 73.7% of the 331 records in scope. Pesticide-activity (A01P, 17.8%), fertiliser mixtures (C05G, 15.4%) and microorganism/genetic engineering (C12N, 15.1%) form a secondary tier; polymer chemistry (C08G) and organic fertiliser (C05F) classes each sit under 5%, well below the density of the core biocide claims.
Shares are the percentage of the 331 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Spray Adjuvants and Drift Reduction with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about spray adjuvants and drift reduction and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
US5780390A — Agricultural spray adjuvant comprising coconut diethanolamide and polyalkylene glycol
An agricultural spray adjuvant composition that can be added to an agricultural spray to enhance the deposition of the agricultural spray by preventing evaporation, reducing surface tension, stabilizing dynamic surface tension and enhancing stickability comprising coconut acid diethanolamide and a method employing the same.Filed by GB Biosciences Corporation, published 1998-07-14 — one of the earlier filings establishing the coconut-derivative surfactant approach to deposition enhancement.
View full filing| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5985793A | Sequential application method for treating plants with exogenous chemicals | 99 |
| 2 | US5821195A | Sequential application method for enhancing glyphosate herbicidal effectiveness with reduced antagonism | 81 |
| 3 | US5824797A | Guar as a deposition and bioefficacy aid | 74 |
| 4 | WO2000042847A1 | Plant protecting adjuvant containing topped or peaked alcohol alkoxylates and conventional alcohol alkoxylates | 67 |
| 5 | US20130212739A1 | Process for transfecting plants | 65 |
| 6 | US7989392B2 | Herbicidal compositions containing glyphosate bipyridilium | 53 |
| 7 | US5906961A | Alkanolamide spreader-sticker surfactant combination | 52 |
| 8 | WO2012019660A1 | Process of transfecting plants | 50 |
| 9 | US20150045224A1 | Drift Reduction Compositions for Agricultural Use | 44 |
| 10 | US20130079228A1 | Agricultural spray solution compositions and methods | 42 |
Citation counts accumulate over time and favour older filings; treat them as a measure of influence on later art, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the ranking, the trend and the IPC mix are read together.
The field has a small core and a long tail
The five leading assignees together account for 146 of the 331 records in scope, and the top ten reach 62.5%. That leaves a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants competing for the remaining share, which typically means the core surfactant and deposition-aid chemistry is well staked out while narrower application-specific claims remain open.
Volume has eased from its 2019 peak
Annual filings peaked at 27 in 2019 and by 2024 — the most recent year that can be treated as complete given publication lag — had fallen to 16, a 16% decline across the 2021-2024 span. This reads as a maturing core rather than an active gold rush, though newer branches within the field may still be accelerating.
Biocide claims dominate; polymer chemistry is thin
A01N biocide and agrochemical claims appear in nearly three-quarters of records, while condensation-polymer claims under C08G sit at just 4.8%. A gap this wide between the dominant class and adjacent chemistry classes usually signals where formulation approaches have not yet been claimed as densely.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to spray adjuvants and drift reduction, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the openings are
The ranking spans 100 companies counted by patent family. A handful of names anchor the top of the field; most of the ranking is made up of companies with only a handful of filings each.
A single filer well ahead of the field
The top-ranked assignee holds 50 records, more than three times the fifth-place count of 16. That gap suggests a company that treats adjuvant and drift-reduction chemistry as core IP rather than a peripheral filing category.
A fast drop-off after the top ten
By tenth place the count has fallen to 9 records, and the top ten together hold 62.5% of all 331 records. Below that line, filing counts thin quickly into single-digit and single-filing entrants.
Recent activity is uneven across assignees
Latest-year momentum varies sharply: one assignee doubled its filings year over year from a low base, while several established names in the ranking show no filings in the latest year, consistent with the broader 2021-2024 slowdown and the effect of publication lag on the newest years.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| EXACTO INC | 2 | +100% |
| Momentive Performance Materials Inc. | 1 | -50% |
| Nomad Bioscience | 0 | — |
| Rhodia Operations SAS | 0 | — |
| Monsanto Technology LLC | 0 | — |
| Nufarm Australia Ltd | 0 | -100% |
| Vive Crop Protection Inc | 0 | — |
| AgQuam LLC | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this next
The dataset points to a concentrated core and a thinner set of adjacent branches. The next steps depend on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate or identifying open filing space.
Map claims against the leading assignees
With 44.1% of records held by five companies, a freedom-to-operate check should start with the claim scope of the top-ranked filers before looking at the long tail.
Explore assignee claims in EurekaTrack the under-claimed branches
Polymer-chemistry and organic-fertiliser classes show low density relative to the dominant A01N category, suggesting room for narrowly drawn claims in those areas.
Run a white space search in EurekaWatch the next two publication years
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025-2026 filing counts will keep rising as more records surface; revisit the trend once those years settle.
Set up monitoring in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The assignee ranking behind this dataset covers 100 companies, counted by patent family across 331 records in scope. The leading assignee holds 50 records, well ahead of the fifth-ranked company at 16, and the top five combined account for 44.1% of all records. Below the top ten, which together hold 62.5% of the field, filing counts drop quickly into single-digit territory, indicating a long tail of companies with only occasional filings in this space.
Filing activity peaked at 27 records in 2019 and had fallen to 16 by 2024, a 16% decline over the 2021-2024 span, which is the most recent period that can be treated as reasonably complete. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still filling in because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so it would be premature to call the field in decline based on the newest years alone. The safer reading is that the core chemistry matured through the late 2010s and filing has since normalised to a lower but steady rate.
The dominant class is A01N, covering biocides and general agrochemical compositions, which appears in 73.7% of the 331 records in scope. Secondary classes include A01P (pesticide activity, 17.8%), C05G (fertiliser mixtures, 15.4%) and C12N (microorganisms and genetic engineering, 15.1%). Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100%, and classes like C08G condensation polymers or C05F organic fertilisers appear far less often, each under 5% of records.
Among receiving offices in this dataset, the United States leads with 77 records, followed by the European Patent Office at 49 and Australia at 47. WIPO PCT filings account for 38 records, with Canada at 28 and India at 18. This spread suggests applicants are pursuing protection across major agricultural markets rather than concentrating filings in a single jurisdiction.
US5780390A claims an agricultural spray adjuvant built on coconut acid diethanolamide combined with a polyalkylene glycol, aimed at reducing surface tension, stabilising dynamic surface tension and improving stickability and deposition. Anyone formulating around that specific coconut-derivative surfactant and polyalkylene glycol combination for deposition enhancement should review its claim scope carefully. Because it was filed in 1998, its term considerations differ from more recent filings, but it remains part of the prior art landscape that later deposition-aid patents had to design around.
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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.