PlainPatent

CPC technology class · B31

B31D - Making Articles Of Paper

Making articles of paper, cardboard or material worked in a manner analogous to paper, not provided for in subclasses b31b or b31c. 747 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

747
US patents granted
#3/4
in B31
19.1%
B31 class share
+48%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Making Articles Of Paper ranks #492 of 670 CPC technology areas - 747 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 48% over five years.

#492
of 670 CPC technology areas
747
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Pregis Innovative Packaging
leading assignee (74)
+48%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B31D's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B31D recorded 411 grants versus 278 in 2015–2019 (+48% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2024 at 93 grants and bottomed in 2017 at 48 (+94% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Pregis Innovative Packaging LLC holds 9.9% of the class ; the top three share 23.3%.

Leaderboard read

B31D concentration, lead at 9.9%

Pregis Innovative Packaging LLC leads this historical grant record at 9.9% of B31D - us corporation assignees hold 76% of class grants (337 of 445). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share
9.9%

74 of 747 grants

Top three share
23.3%

of the class's recorded grants

Lead over #2
12

more grants than Ranpak Corp.

Where B31D sits inside B31

Among 4 subclasses in B31 (Making Articles OF Paper, Cardboard OR Material Worked IN A Manner Analogous TO PAPER; Working Paper, Cardboard OR Material Worked IN A Manner Analogous TO Paper), B31D ranks #3 and holds 19.1% of the parent class's 3,917 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B31B 2,038 B31F 1,044 B31C 88

Rising assignees active in B31D

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 HexcelPack, LLC 10x 0 → 10 company-wide · 13 in B31D
  2. #2 Documotion Research, Inc. 2.00x 1 → 2 company-wide · 6 in B31D
  3. #3 Ranpak Corp. 1.89x 18 → 34 company-wide · 62 in B31D
  4. #4 Storopack Hans Reichenecker GmbH 1.83x 6 → 11 company-wide · 13 in B31D
  5. #5 Sealed Air Corporation (US) 1.64x 22 → 36 company-wide · 38 in B31D

B31D grants by year, peak 2024 (93)

US utility-patent grants per year in B31D, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 48% versus 2015–2019.

405060708090100 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 49

Who leads B31D?

The 12 most active assignees in Making Articles OF Paper, Cardboard OR Material Worked IN A Manner Analogous TO Paper, NOT Provided FOR IN Subclasses B31b OR B31c - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Pregis Innovative… is the most active filer in B31D, holding 74 of the 747 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 B31D
Rank Company Patents in B31D
#1 Pregis Innovative Packaging LLC 74
#2 Ranpak Corp. 62
#3 Sealed Air Corporation (US) 38
#4 Sprick GmbH Bielefelder Papier-und Wellpappenwerke & Co. 18
#5 Automated Packaging Systems, LLC 14
#6 Electronic Imaging Services, Inc. 14
#7 Storopack Hans Reichenecker GmbH 13
#8 HexcelPack, LLC 13
#9 Vanguard Packaging, LLC 9
#10 TemperPack Technologies Inc. 7
#11 I.M.A. Industria Macchine Automatiche S.P.A. 6
#12 Bradford Company 6
#13 Smart Planet Technologies, Inc. 6
#14 Documotion Research, Inc. 6
#15 UPM Raflatac OY 5
#16 Ward-Kraft, Inc. 5
#17 Pregis Intellipack LLC 5
#18 Rekon, LLC 4
#19 Minigraphics, Inc. 4
#20 Beta (SHENZHEN) Package Products Co., Ltd 4

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B31D 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 B31D assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B31D. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 5101520253035 020406080 Patents in B31D Avg claims / patent (company-wide) Pregis Innovative…RanpakSealed Air (Us)Sprick Bielefelder…Automated Packaging…Imaging ServicesStoropack Hans…HexcelpackVanguard PackagingTemperpackI M A Industria…BradfordSmart PlanetDocumotion Research
Top 14 B31D assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B31D. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B31D's 747-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B31D (#492 of 670 by volume ; lead share 9.9%) - not the B31 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

B27N 750 G21D 744 C05C 753 C25C 753

Nearest by lead-assignee share

A41D 9.9% F01L 10.0% B28C 9.8% B41N 10.0%

Questions about B31D

Which company holds the most patents in B31D?
Pregis Innovative Packaging LLC leads B31D with 74 patents (9.9% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 76% of class grants.
Which B31D assignees grew fastest recently?
Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B31D, HexcelPack, LLC shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (10x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 10 in 2022–2024) while holding 13 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.
How does B31D compare inside parent class B31?
Inside B31 (Making Articles OF Paper, Cardboard OR Material Worked IN A Manner Analogous TO PAPER; Working Paper, Cardboard OR Material Worked IN A Manner Analogous TO Paper), B31D ranks #3 of 4 subclasses by grant volume and holds 19.1% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B31B (2,038 grants).

What to do with this data

B31D in context - here's where to go next.

  • Pregis Innovative Packaging LLC leads B31D with 74 grants in this class. See full portfolio
  • B31D ranks #492 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
  • Inside parent class B31, the largest sibling subclass is B31B with 2,038 grants. Explore B31B

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

Methodology - B31D figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (747 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.