CPC technology class · B26

B26D - Cutting

Cutting; details common to machines for perforating, punching, cutting-out, stamping-out or severing. 3,757 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

3,757
US patents granted: #1/3
in B26: 47.9%
B26 class share: -1%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Cutting ranks #283 of 670 CPC technology areas - 3,757 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 1% over five years.

#283
of 670 CPC technology areas: 3,757
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Brother Kogyo
leading assignee (85): -1%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B26D's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B26D recorded 1,697 grants versus 1,706 in 2015–2019 (-1% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2020 at 420 grants and bottomed in 2024 at 302 (+39% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha holds 2.3% of the class ; the top three share 4.7%.

Leaderboard read

B26D concentration, lead at 2.3%

Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha leads this historical grant record at 2.3% of B26D - foreign corporation assignees hold 61% of class grants (1,137 of 1,865). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 2.3%
Top three share: 4.7%
Lead over #2: 38

Where B26D sits inside B26

Among 3 subclasses in B26 (Hand Cutting TOOLS; CUTTING; Severing), B26D ranks #1 and holds 47.9% of the parent class's 7,844 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B26B 2,460 B26F 1,627

Rising assignees active in B26D

Company-wide grant multiples (2022–2024 vs 2019–2021) among assignees with ≥5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide; class patent counts are subclass-specific.

#1 ZÜND Systemtechnik AG 5.00x 1 → 5 company-wide · 7 in B26D
#2 King's Flair Development Ltd. 3.00x 1 → 3 company-wide · 5 in B26D
#3 Packsize, LLC 2.89x 18 → 52 company-wide · 10 in B26D
#4 Cricut, Inc. 2.47x 17 → 42 company-wide · 11 in B26D
#5 GEA Food Solutions Germany GmbH 2.00x 3 → 6 company-wide · 7 in B26D

B26D grants by year, peak 2020 (420)

US utility-patent grants per year in B26D, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 1% versus 2015–2019.

Brother Kogyo

85
Urschel Laboratories

47
Disco

44
Weber Maschinenbau…

44
John Bean

28
Bizerba Se & Kg

26
Multivac Sepp…

25
Bobst Mex

21
Progressive Internatio…

20
Fujitsu Component

19
Provisur

19
Fam

18

What this shows Brother Kogyo is the most active filer in B26D, holding 85 of the 3,757 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

View data table

Top patent holders in CPC subclass B26D
Rank	Company	Patents in B26D
#1	Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha	85
#2	Urschel Laboratories, Inc.	47
#3	Disco Corporation	44
#4	Weber Maschinenbau GmbH Breidenbach	44
#5	John Bean Technologies Corporation	28
#6	Bizerba SE & Co. KG	26
#7	Multivac Sepp Haggenmüller Se & Co. KG	25
#8	Bobst MEX SA	21
#9	Progressive International Corp.	20
#10	Fujitsu Component Limited	19
#11	Provisur Technologies, Inc.	19
#12	FAM	18
#13	Trumpf Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH + Co. KG	16
#14	Koenig & Bauer AG	15
#15	Curt G. Joa, Inc.	13
#16	Horizon International Inc.	13
#17	TVI Entwicklung & Produktion GMBH	13
#18	A. G. Stacker Inc.	12
#19	Canon Finetech Nisca Inc.	11
#20	Sacmi Cooperativa Meccanici Imola Societa' Cooperativa	11

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B26D assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 B26D assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B26D. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B26D's 3,757-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B26D (#283 of 670 by volume ; lead share 2.3%) - not the B26 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

A01C 3,761 G16Z 3,767 F42B 3,745 C08B 3,742

Nearest by lead-assignee share

C08G 2.3% C01D 2.3% H01S 2.3% A23V 2.3%

Questions about B26D

Which company holds the most patents in B26D?

Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha leads B26D with 85 patents (2.3% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 61% of class grants.

Which B26D assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B26D, ZÜND Systemtechnik AG shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (5.00x: 1 grants in 2019–2021 → 5 in 2022–2024) while holding 7 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does B26D compare inside parent class B26?

Inside B26 (Hand Cutting TOOLS; CUTTING; Severing), B26D ranks #1 of 3 subclasses by grant volume and holds 47.9% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B26B (2,460 grants).

What to do with this data

B26D in context - here's where to go next.

Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha leads B26D with 85 grants in this class. See full portfolio
B26D ranks #283 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class B26, the largest sibling subclass is B26B with 2,460 grants. Explore B26B

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through 2026-05-15; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Methodology - B26D figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (3,757 grants in the tracked window).

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.