PlainPatent

CPC technology class · B29

B29C - Shaping Or Joining Of Plastics

Shaping or joining of plastics; shaping of material in a plastic state, not otherwise provided for; after-treatment of the shaped products, e.g. repairing. 53,431 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

53,431
US patents granted
#1/5
in B29
46.0%
B29 class share
+26%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Shaping Or Joining Of Plastics ranks #30 of 670 CPC technology areas - 53,431 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 26% over five years.

#30
of 670 CPC technology areas
53,431
US patents granted, 2015–2025
The Boeing
leading assignee (1,808)
+26%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B29C's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B29C recorded 26,458 grants versus 20,969 in 2015–2019 (+26% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2020 at 5,583 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 3,341 (+67% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee The Boeing Company holds 3.4% of the class ; the top three share 6.1%.

Leaderboard read

B29C concentration, lead at 3.4%

The Boeing Company leads this historical grant record at 3.4% of B29C - foreign corporation assignees hold 54% of class grants (20,253 of 37,814). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share
3.4%

1,808 of 53,431 grants

Top three share
6.1%

of the class's recorded grants

Lead over #2
997

more grants than Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P.

Where B29C sits inside B29

Among 5 subclasses in B29 (Working OF PLASTICS; Working OF Substances IN A Plastic State IN General), B29C ranks #1 and holds 46.0% of the parent class's 116,272 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B29L 23,135 B29K 22,850 B29D 11,216 B29B 5,640

Rising assignees active in B29C

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. #1 LG Energy Solution, Ltd. 770x 2 → 1,539 company-wide · 56 in B29C
  2. #2 RTX Corporation 662x 0 → 662 company-wide · 26 in B29C
  3. #3 Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp. 144x 0 → 144 company-wide · 11 in B29C
  4. #4 Proterial, Ltd. 139x 0 → 139 company-wide · 13 in B29C
  5. #5 Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, Inc. 92x 0 → 92 company-wide · 7 in B29C

B29C grants by year, peak 2020 (5,583)

US utility-patent grants per year in B29C, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 26% versus 2015–2019.

3,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5006,000 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 3,535

Who leads B29C?

The 12 most active assignees in Shaping OR Joining OF PLASTICS; Shaping OF Material IN A Plastic State, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR; After-treatment OF THE Shaped Products, e.g. Repairing - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows The Boeing is the most active filer in B29C, holding 1,808 of the 53,431 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

Source USPTO PatentsView, granted utility patents As of 2015–2025 grant years
View data table
Top patent holders in CPC subclass B29C
Rank Company Patents in B29C
#1 The Boeing Company 1,808
#2 Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P. 811
#3 General Electric Company 659
#4 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha 520
#5 Nike, Inc. 468
#6 Stratasys Ltd. 424
#7 Xerox Corporation 384
#8 3M Innovative Properties Company 379
#9 The Procter & Gamble Company 378
#10 Airbus Operations Limited 333
#11 Seiko Epson Corporation 315
#12 Krones AG 260
#13 Toray Industries, Inc. 232
#14 DOW Global Technologies LLC 213
#15 Compagnie Generale DES Etablissements Michelin 213
#16 Carbon, Inc. 194
#17 Sabic Global Technologies B.V. 186
#18 3D Systems, Inc. 183
#19 Basf SE 175
#20 Kinpo Electronics, Inc. 173

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B29C 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 B29C assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B29C. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 510152025 0500100015002000 Patents in B29C Avg claims / patent (company-wide) The BoeingHewlett-packard…General ElectricCanonNikeStratasysXerox3m Innovative…The Procter & GambleAirbus OperationsSeiko EpsonKronesToray IndustriesDow Global
Top 14 B29C assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B29C. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B29C's 53,431-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B29C (#30 of 670 by volume ; lead share 3.4%) - not the B29 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

G01R 53,716 G11C 53,783 G02F 52,876 G01S 52,756

Nearest by lead-assignee share

C10L 3.4% F24S 3.4% E04G 3.3% A47B 3.4%

Questions about B29C

Which company holds the most patents in B29C?
The Boeing Company leads B29C with 1,808 patents (3.4% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 54% of class grants.
Which B29C assignees grew fastest recently?
Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B29C, LG Energy Solution, Ltd. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (770x: 2 grants in 2019–2021 → 1,539 in 2022–2024) while holding 56 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.
How does B29C compare inside parent class B29?
Inside B29 (Working OF PLASTICS; Working OF Substances IN A Plastic State IN General), B29C ranks #1 of 5 subclasses by grant volume and holds 46.0% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B29L (23,135 grants).

What to do with this data

B29C in context - here's where to go next.

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

Methodology - B29C figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (53,431 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.