Sun Protection Factor Testing Patents: Who Leads and Where Claims Concentrate
36.7% sits with five filers. The top 5 assignees account for 957 of 2,605 records in scope, with a long tail of single-digit filers behind them. Filings climbed to a peak of 180 in 2021, then declined to 109 by 2024, a 39% drop over that three-year span. Earlier years, such as 108 in 2017, show the field was already active well before the peak. Treat 2025 and 2026 figures as incomplete rather than as evidence of continued decline, since publication lag means recent filings are still working through the pipeline.
- 1LOREAL SA16.5%
- 2BASF SE8.9%
- 3CRODA INT PLC5.0%
- 4SHISEIDO CO LTD3.1%
- 5EIRGEN PHARMA LTD3.1%
See the full sun protection factor testing 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 on SPF testing patents
Who holds the most patents on SPF testing methods and formulations?
The ranked assignee list is led by one company with 431 of the 2,605 records in scope, well ahead of the rest of the field. The top 5 assignees combined hold 957 records, or 36.7% of all records in scope, while the tenth-ranked assignee holds 45. This is a field with a clear leader and a long tail of much smaller filers, so a competitive check should start with the top few names rather than treating the ranking as evenly distributed.
Is patent filing activity in SPF testing growing or declining?
Filings rose to a peak of 180 in 2021 and had fallen to 109 by 2024, a 39% decline over that span. However, patent publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the lower counts shown for 2025 and 2026 in the underlying data are provisional and should not be read as continued decline. The 2021-2024 window is the most reliable basis for judging the recent trend.
What is the difference between in vivo and in vitro SPF testing patents in this dataset?
Both terms appear directly in the search criteria used to build this corpus, and many records reference both approaches within the same filing, since a single patent may describe a testing method usable on live skin, animal models, or artificial substrate plates. The representative filing in this dataset, for instance, describes a method usable in vivo, in vitro, or on skin models. Rather than being cleanly separated into two families, in vivo and in vitro claims tend to sit inside the same formulation or apparatus patents.
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 Sun Protection Factor Testing 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.