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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/total-knee-arthroplasty-implant-design-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Orthopedic ImplantsTotal Knee Arthroplasty Implant Design Patents
- 67.9% concentration. The top five assignees hold 288 of 424 records in scope — a field dominated by a handful of established implant makers, not a fragmented one.
- Filing has cooled from its 2017 peak. Annual filings ran from 25 at peak in 2017 down through 19 in 2021 to 10 in 2024, a -47% move across that span, though 2025-26 counts are still filling in.
- A61F dominates, but adjacent computing classes are thin. 74.5% of records sit in A61F implant claims, while image processing, healthcare informatics and additive manufacturing each stay under 8% — signal of where design activity has not yet concentrated.
424
Published Records
68%
Top-5 Share of All Records
-47%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (19 records) with 2024 (10) — 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 424 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What this landscape covers
This landscape covers 424 published records filed against knee arthroplasty implant design and prosthesis claims — femoral component geometry, insert conformity, patellar tracking, range-of-motion behaviour, kinematic alignment and polyethylene wear resistance. The scope spans filings from 2015 through the current data cut-off, with publication lagging filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one to two years understate actual filing activity.
Records are drawn primarily from United States, European and PCT filings, with a smaller but consistent share from Australian and Canadian offices, reflecting where implant manufacturers seek early protection before regional rollout.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Total Knee Arthroplasty Implant Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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The Data
Filing trend and technology composition
The two views below trace how filing volume has moved since 2015 and where records cluster across IPC subclasses. Together they show a field with a defined technical core and several adjacent, lightly claimed branches.
Filing trend, 2015-2026
Filings peaked in 2017 at 25 and have since eased; the 2021-to-2024 span shows a -47% move (19 to 10), a genuine complete-year comparison rather than an artifact of publication lag. Counts for 2025 onward are still incomplete and should not be read as a continued decline.
IPC subclass composition
A61F implants and prostheses account for 74.5% of the 424 records in scope, with A61B diagnosis and surgery close behind at 44.8%. Software-adjacent classes — G06F, G06T, B33Y, G16H, G06K and G16Z — each sit in the single digits, marking where digital planning, imaging and additive-manufacturing tie-ins to implant design remain a smaller share of the filed art.
Shares are the percentage of the 424 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Total Knee Arthroplasty Implant Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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Most-cited prior art and a representative filing
Representative filing
US20210290410A1 — Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (ENGAGE UNI LLC, 2021-09-23)
ENGAGE UNI LLC
A system for preparing a knee may include a marking guide with a handle and a tibial marking portion extending from the handle. The handle may have a tibial alignment feature shaped to be aligned with a first corresponding feature of a tibia and a tibial marking guide shaped to guide motion of a marking instrument to provide, on the tibia, a tibial mark that identifies a tibial location at which a tibial component is to be placed. The marking guide may further have a femoral marking portion with a femoral alignment feature shaped to align the femoral marking portion with the tibial marking portion and/or the tibial mark, and a femoral marking guide shaped to guide motion of a marking instrument.Abstract excerpted from the published filing.
Most-cited records in this landscape
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US4340978A | New Jersey meniscal bearing knee replacement | 657 |
| 2 | US6827723B2 | Surgical navigation systems and processes for unicompartmental knee arthroplasty | 551 |
| 3 | US4822365A | Method of design of human joint prosthesis | 534 |
| 4 | US20050113846A1 | Surgical navigation systems and processes for unicompartmental knee arthroplasty | 491 |
| 5 | US6923817B2 | Total knee arthroplasty systems and processes | 473 |
| 6 | US4309778A | New Jersey meniscal bearing knee replacement | 449 |
| 7 | US7326252B2 | High performance knee prostheses | 339 |
| 8 | US20100042105A1 | Arthroplasty system and related methods | 325 |
| 9 | US4209861A | Joint prosthesis | 302 |
| 10 | US20040243244A1 | High performance knee prostheses | 251 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations inside the searched corpus; treat them as a measure of influence on later filings, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Total Knee Arthroplasty Implant Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the numbers say about this field
Three patterns stand out once the ranking, trend and citation data are read together: heavy concentration at the top, a cooling but not collapsing filing rate, and a technical core that has left several adjacent branches largely unclaimed.
Concentration
67.9%
of 424 records held by top 5 assignees
A small group holds most of the claim space
The leading assignee alone accounts for 102 records, and the top five combined reach 288 of the 424 records in scope. That leaves a long tail across the remaining 67 ranked companies, most holding only a handful of filings each.
Ranking covers 72 companies total
Momentum
-47%
filings, 2021 to 2024
Filing rate has eased from its 2017 peak
Annual output fell from 19 records in 2021 to 10 in 2024. That decline sits on complete-year data; 2025 and 2026 figures are still accumulating due to publication lag and should not be read into the same trend line.
Peak year: 2017 at 25 filings
Composition
74.5%
of records classed under A61F
The technical core is implant geometry, not software
A61F implant and prosthesis claims dominate, with A61B surgical and diagnostic claims a strong second at 44.8%. Digital-planning and data-processing classes each remain under 8%, suggesting the design core is still mechanical rather than software-defined.
Based on 424 records; classes overlap
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to total knee arthroplasty implant design, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Total Knee Arthroplasty Implant Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranking runs 72 companies deep, but the top ten already account for 83.7% of the 355-record concentration figure inside the full 424-record scope. Recent-year momentum across the leading names has flattened to zero in the latest tracked year, consistent with the broader publication-lag effect rather than a sudden retreat from the field.
Leader
102
records
A single assignee anchors the field
The top-ranked assignee holds 102 of the 424 records in scope, more than triple the fifth-place total of 27. That gap defines the shape of the whole ranking: one dominant filer, a mid-tier of established orthopedic manufacturers, and a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants.
Fifth place: 27 records
Mid-tier
11
records at 10th place
Established orthopedic names fill the middle
Positions five through ten hold between 11 and 27 records each, a mix of major implant manufacturers and specialist surgical-navigation filers. This tier is where design activity around insert conformity and alignment instrumentation tends to concentrate outside the leader.
Top 10 combined: 355 records, 83.7% of scope
Collaboration
10
co-assignee pairs identified
Co-filing is limited and concentrated
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, with the strongest pairing linked at 23 shared records. Co-filing here reads as inventor-to-licensee arrangements rather than broad industry consortia.
Strongest pair: 23 shared records
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Zimmer Inc | 0 | — |
| Smith & Nephew Inc | 0 | -100% |
| RASMUSSEN G LYNN | 0 | — |
| Howmedica Osteonics Corp | 0 | — |
| WILTON TIMOTHY | 0 | — |
| BELLEMANS JOHAN | 0 | — |
| JVC Kenwood Corporation | 0 | — |
| HUGHES DEAN | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Total Knee Arthroplasty Implant Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with a settled mechanical core and several digitally-adjacent branches still open. The next steps depend on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate or identifying filing opportunity.
Map freedom-to-operate against the leader's claims
With one assignee holding 102 of 424 records, a design-around review should start there before assessing the mid-tier manufacturers.
Explore assignee claim scope in Eureka →Track the software-adjacent classes for emerging filers
G06T, G16H and B33Y each sit under 8% of records — worth monitoring for new entrants building digital planning or additive-manufacturing tie-ins.
Set up class-level monitoring in Eureka →Validate 2025-26 filings as data completes
Recent-year momentum reads as flat across leading assignees, but publication lag means this should be revisited once later filings post.
Run a refreshed trend query in Eureka →Source: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Total Knee Arthroplasty Implant Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions on this landscape
One assignee leads with 102 of the 424 records in scope, more than three times the fifth-place total of 27. The top five assignees combined hold 288 records, or 67.9% of the field, and the ranking extends to 72 companies overall, most holding only a small number of filings. This concentration means freedom-to-operate work should prioritize the top few names before the long tail.
Filings peaked in 2017 at 25 records and eased to 10 by 2024, a -47% move across the 2021-to-2024 span using complete-year data. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so it is premature to call the trend a continued decline. The honest read is a cooling from an earlier peak, not a collapse in activity.
A61F, covering implants and prostheses, appears in 74.5% of the 424 records, making it the clear technical core. A61B, diagnosis and surgery, follows at 44.8%, often overlapping with A61F in the same filings. Digital and computational classes — image processing, healthcare informatics, additive manufacturing and data recognition — each remain under 8%, indicating design activity is still mechanically rather than software led.
The under-claimed branches sit in the classes with low record shares relative to the A61F core: sensor-embedded wear monitoring, AI-assisted patellar tracking, additive-manufactured porous fixation, and kinematic alignment planning software. These sit adjacent to the dense mechanical core but have not attracted the same filing density, which is where a first-mover claim is more likely to clear prior art cleanly. Confirming this requires a fresh freedom-to-operate search on the specific claim language contemplated.
Highly concentrated: the top five assignees account for 67.9% of all 424 records, and the top ten reach 83.7%. Beyond that, the ranking runs to 72 companies with sharply diminishing filing counts, meaning most participants hold only a handful of records each. New entrants face an established core group but a genuinely open long tail for narrower design claims.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Total Knee Arthroplasty Implant Design covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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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.