CPC technology class · B41
B41J — Typewriters
Typewriters; selective printing mechanisms, i.e. mechanisms printing otherwise than from a forme; correction of typographical errors. 26,654 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.
- 26,654
- US patents granted
- B41
- Parent CPC class
- 20
- Active assignees
- -7%
- 5-yr velocity
CPC subclass B41J — TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS — covers 26,654 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records. This subclass sits within the broader CPC class B41 (PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS), one of roughly 250 top-level technology categories in the Cooperative Patent Classification system jointly maintained by the USPTO and the European Patent Office. At the subclass level, four-character codes like B41J give the most practical resolution for tracking a specific technology domain without losing sight of adjacent filings. Every grant here has been classified by a USPTO examiner based on the technical disclosure in the patent specification.
The competitive landscape in B41J is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION leads with 5,146 patents, followed by Canon Kabushiki Kaisha at 34,378 grants and BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA at 7,931. Concentration at the top of the leaderboard indicates whether this technology area is dominated by a handful of incumbents or fragmented across many filers — a useful signal for investors evaluating competitive moats and for product teams mapping freedom-to-operate risk.
Filing trajectory matters as much as static counts. The yearly series on this page plots grants from 2015 through 2025, highlighting whether innovation in B41J is accelerating, plateauing, or cooling. Technology areas with rising post-2020 activity often reflect emerging markets or new platform shifts, while declining filings can signal mature domains where incremental improvement has slowed. Researchers, licensing professionals, and competitive-intelligence teams use these patterns — together with the top-assignee distribution — to decide where to invest, where to license, and where to avoid entanglement. All counts on this page come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.
Is B41J innovation accelerating?
US utility-patent grants per year in B41J, 2015–2025 — recent five years are down 7% versus 2015–2019.
Who leads B41J?
The 12 most active assignees in TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS — wider bars mean more grants
- Seiko Epson
SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
14,235 patents
- Canon
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
34,378 patents
- Brother Kogyo 7,931
BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
7,931 patents
- Hewlett-packard Devel… 8,656
HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
8,656 patents
- Ricoh 10,223
RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
10,223 patents
- Xerox 3,772
Xerox Corporation
3,772 patents
- Toshiba Tec 3,280
TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
3,280 patents
- Kyocera Document Solu… 5,491
KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
5,491 patents
- Fujifilm 8,518
FUJIFILM Corporation
8,518 patents
- Konica Minolta 4,158
KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
4,158 patents
- Memjet Technology 255
Memjet Technology Limited
255 patents
- Mimaki Engineering 348
MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
348 patents
What this shows Seiko Epson is the most active filer in B41J, holding 5,146 of the 26,654 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.
View data table
| Rank | Company | Patents in B41J |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION | 14,235 |
| #2 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | 34,378 |
| #3 | BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA | 7,931 |
| #4 | HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P. | 8,656 |
| #5 | RICOH COMPANY, LTD. | 10,223 |
| #6 | Xerox Corporation | 3,772 |
| #7 | TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA | 3,280 |
| #8 | KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc. | 5,491 |
| #9 | FUJIFILM Corporation | 8,518 |
| #10 | KONICA MINOLTA, INC. | 4,158 |
| #11 | Memjet Technology Limited | 255 |
| #12 | MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD. | 348 |
| #13 | SCREEN HOLDINGS CO., LTD. | 1,077 |
| #14 | CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD. | 1,949 |
| #15 | RISO KAGAKU CORPORATION | 350 |
| #16 | FUNAI ELECTRIC CO., LTD. | 541 |
| #17 | KYOCERA Corporation | 4,151 |
| #18 | EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY | 711 |
| #19 | Kateeva, Inc. | 204 |
| #20 | FUJI XEROX CO., LTD. | 3,629 |
About This Class
CPC subclass B41J belongs to class B41.
26,654 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CPC class B41J?
How many patents have been filed in B41J?
Which company holds the most patents in B41J?
How is patent data for B41J collected?
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Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.