Time-Temperature Indicator Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- One company holds 39 of 80 records in scope, and the top 5 assignees combined account for 81.3% of all filings — this field is unusually concentrated for a packaging niche.
- Filings peaked at 6 in 2021 and fell to 0 by 2024, a -100% swing over that three-year span, though the two most recent years are still filling in due to publication lag.
- G01K and G01N cover roughly seven in ten records each, while enzyme-based routes (C12N, C12Q) and coating chemistry (C09D) sit at single-digit shares — narrower, less-crowded ground.
Filing growth compares 2021 (6 records) with 2024 (0) — 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 80 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the filing record shows
Time-temperature indicator (TTI) labels translate cumulative heat exposure into a visible signal — an irreversible colour change, a diffusion front, an enzyme-substrate reaction — so that a package can report whether it stayed within its intended temperature window. The patent record in this dataset spans 80 published records filed between 2015 and 2026, concentrated overwhelmingly in two IPC subclasses: G01K (temperature measurement) and G01N (material analysis and testing), each present on roughly seven in ten records.
Ownership of that record is tight. A single assignee accounts for 39 of the 80 records, and the ranked leaders — 25 companies in total — reach full coverage of the dataset by the tenth position. That pattern points to a field where the core detection mechanisms were claimed early and where new entrants are more likely to find room in adjacent chemistry (enzyme-based kinetics, printable coatings) than in the core optical or diffusion-based indicator designs.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in the trend line are still incomplete — treat the last two years as a floor, not a signal of decline.
Filing trend, 2015–2026
Filings rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 6 in 2021, then fell to 0 by 2024 — a -100% change over that span. Because publication lag affects the most recent years most, this reads as a mature, already-claimed core rather than a technology in active retreat.
IPC subclass composition
G01K (71.3% of records) and G01N (66.3%) dominate, consistent with a field defined by measurement and validation claims. Enzyme and genetic-engineering classes C12Q and C12N sit at 12.5% and 8.8% respectively, and coating-chemistry class C09D at 6.3% — these narrower bands are where the claim density thins out.
Shares are the percentage of the 80 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Time-Temperature Indicator Labels with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about time-temperature indicator labels and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this space
Enzyme-based time temperature indicator (US20090226948A1)
The filing describes a time-temperature indicator built on an immobilised enzyme and its substrate, where the enzyme-catalysed reaction produces a detectable product at a rate that depends on both time and temperature. Change is read by monitoring a physical characteristic — such as colour or optical density — linked to the concentration of substrate or product. The filing also covers a method of printing this enzyme-based indicator directly onto packaging material.Filed by Ciba Corp., published 2009-09-10.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WO2005075978A2 | Time-temperature indicator based on valence isomerizations | 60 |
| 2 | US20100296545A1 | Time temperature indicator | 31 |
| 3 | US20070172951A1 | Time-temperature indicator based on valence isomerizations | 30 |
| 4 | WO2008083926A1 | Time temperature indicator | 28 |
| 5 | US20070218206A1 | Method of Printing a Time-Temperature Indicator Based on Azo Coupling Reactions onto a Susbtrate | 28 |
| 6 | WO2013186782A1 | Apparatus, system and method for monitoring the status of perishable products | 24 |
| 7 | US20150308901A1 | Time and/or Temperature Sensitive Devices and Methods of Use Thereof | 22 |
| 8 | US9011794B2 | Time temperature indicator | 22 |
| 9 | WO2006015961A2 | Enzyme-based time temperature indicator | 22 |
| 10 | US20090226948A1 | Enzyme-based time temperature indicator | 19 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and favour older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns stand out once the ranking, the trend and the class composition are read together.
A narrow group holds the core claims
With the leader alone on 39 records and the top five combined at 81.3% of all 80 records in scope, the foundational colour-change and diffusion mechanisms are already well covered. New filings aimed at the same core detection principle face a dense prior-art field.
Activity has cooled from its 2021 peak
Filings peaked at 6 in 2021 and dropped to 0 by 2024, a -100% change over that span. The two most recent years are still filling in due to publication lag, so this should be read as the end of a filing wave rather than a live downward trend.
Measurement claims dominate; biological routes are thin
G01K and G01N each appear on roughly two-thirds of records, showing the field is built around measurement and validation of the response. Enzyme- and microorganism-based routes (C12N, C12Q) sit far lower, at 8.8% and 12.5% respectively — a smaller, less-crowded slice of the claim space.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to time-temperature indicator labels, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space, and where it opens up
Ownership is concentrated among a small set of assignees with long histories in food-safety and specialty chemicals, but several sub-areas remain lightly claimed.
One assignee dominates the core mechanism
The leading assignee holds nearly half of all 80 records in scope, concentrated in the optical and diffusion-based indicator designs that define the G01K and G01N classes. This makes the core detection mechanism the least promising place for a new entrant to file.
A long tail with little room below the top ten
The ranking includes 25 companies, but the top 10 already account for all 80 records in scope. Entrants outside that group hold single-digit counts, suggesting most independent activity has been opportunistic rather than sustained.
Collaboration is limited and clustered
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest pairings recurring around the same handful of individuals and corporate entities. This points to filing activity organised inside single organisations rather than through broad joint-development arrangements.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| FreshPoint Quality Assurance Ltd | 0 | — |
| FreshPoint Hldg | 0 | — |
| Ciba Specialty Chemicals Holding Inc | 0 | — |
| REICHERT HANS | 0 | — |
| Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) | 0 | — |
| BASF SE | 0 | — |
| MULLER BERNHARD | 0 | — |
| Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The dataset points to a field with a clear owner of the core mechanism and a thinner set of claims around adjacent chemistry and biological triggers.
Check the white space branches first
Before drafting new claims around optical or diffusion-based colour change, review the enzyme-kinetics and coating-chemistry sub-areas, where record counts are far lower and the claim language is less dense.
Explore white space in EurekaMap the leader's claim boundaries
With one assignee holding 39 of 80 records, a freedom-to-operate review should start by mapping exactly which claim elements that portfolio covers before scoping a new filing.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaCommon questions about TTI label patents
One assignee holds 39 of the 80 records in this dataset, roughly half of all filings in scope. The top five assignees combined account for 81.3% of all records, and the top ten reach 100% coverage of the dataset. This means the field's foundational detection mechanisms are concentrated in a small number of hands, and any freedom-to-operate review should start there.
Filing activity peaked at 6 records in 2021 and fell to 0 by 2024, a -100% change over that span. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in this dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as an active decline. Taken together, the pattern looks like a filing wave that crested in 2021 and has since settled rather than a technology that is actively growing.
Two IPC subclasses dominate: G01K (temperature measurement), present on 71.3% of the 80 records, and G01N (material analysis and testing), present on 66.3%. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares overlap rather than add to 100%. Narrower classes like C12N (microorganisms and genetic engineering) and C09D (coatings, paints and inks) sit at single-digit shares, marking areas with comparatively less claim density.
The lower-density IPC classes point to the open ground: enzyme-substrate kinetics (C12Q, 12.5% of records), microorganism-based triggers and genetic engineering (C12N, 8.8%), heterocyclic compound chemistry (C07D, 10.0%) and coating formulations (C09D, 6.3%) all carry far fewer records than the core G01K/G01N measurement classes. A first claim in one of these areas is less likely to run into the dense prior art that surrounds optical and diffusion-based indicator designs.
US20090226948A1, assigned to Ciba Corp. and published in 2009, covers a time-temperature indicator built on an immobilised enzyme and its substrate, where the enzyme-catalysed reaction produces a time- and temperature-dependent product detectable through a linked physical characteristic. It also covers a printing method for applying this enzyme-based indicator to packaging material. Anyone designing an enzyme-based TTI with a comparable detection-and-printing approach should review this filing's claim scope closely, though newer chemistries or non-enzymatic triggers may sit outside it.
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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.
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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.