One assignee leads with 83 records in this dataset, well ahead of the tenth-ranked company’s 20. However, the top 5 assignees combined hold only 19.8% of all 1,267 records in scope, so no single company controls the field. The ranking covers 100 companies, and most of them hold only a handful of filings each, which means a well-drafted claim from a smaller filer can still carve out defensible space.

Filing peaked in 2019 at 126 records and has declined since; the clearest documented span shows 82 filings in 2021 falling to 27 by 2024, a 67% drop. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so it’s premature to call the trend a permanent decline. A re-check in a year or two will show whether the 2024 low holds or whether filing has actually continued at a level the data hasn’t caught up to yet.

B29C covers shaping of plastics and appears in 39.6% of the 1,267 records, making it the single most claimed subclass in this field. B23K covers welding, soldering and brazing and appears in only 7.2% of records, despite induction welding being one of the core search terms behind this dataset. That gap means claim density around the joining step itself is comparatively light next to the shaping and lay-up methods that surround it, which is useful to know if you’re drafting a welding-specific claim rather than a forming one.