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 filing trajectory.

53,431
US patents granted
B29
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+43%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Shaping OR Joining OF Plastics ranks #30 of 670 CPC technology areas - 53,431 US patents granted since 2015, with filing up 43% over five years.

#30
of 670 CPC technology areas
53,431
US patents granted, 2015–2025
The Boeing
leading assignee (1,808)
+43%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: The Boeing Company (1,808 patents)

CPC subclass B29C - 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 - covers 53,431 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class B29 (WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in B29C is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. The Boeing Company leads with 1,808 patents, followed by Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.p. at 811 grants and General Electric Company at 659.

Filing activity in B29C is up 43% over the past five years versus 2015-2019, a sharp acceleration suggesting an emerging or fast-moving technology area. All counts come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is B29C innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in B29C, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 43% 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

About This Class

CPC subclass B29C belongs to class B29.

53,431 patents were granted in this class between 2015 and 2025.

20 companies actively patent in this space.

Classification System

Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) is a hierarchical patent classification system used by the USPTO and EPO.

← All Technology Classes Technology Rankings →

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).

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 Devel…General ElectricCanonNikeStratasysXerox3m Innovative Propert…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).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class B29C?
CPC subclass B29C covers 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. It belongs to CPC class B29 (WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL), with 53,431 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in B29C?
53,431 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass B29C between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in B29C?
The Boeing Company leads B29C with 1,808 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for B29C collected?
Patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It covers all US granted utility patents and assigns CPC codes based on the technology described in each patent.
What is the difference between CPC class and subclass?
A CPC class (e.g., B29) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like B29C provide finer granularity within that category. PlainPatent organizes data at the subclass level (4-character codes) for the most useful view of technology domains.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent Editorial

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.