CPC technology class · B41

B41M - Printing

Printing, duplicating, marking, or copying processes; colour printing,. 6,377 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

6,377
US patents granted: #2/11
in B41: 16.7%
B41 class share: -1%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Printing ranks #226 of 670 CPC technology areas - 6,377 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 1% over five years.

#226
of 670 CPC technology areas: 6,377
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Seiko Epson
leading assignee (300): -1%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B41M's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B41M recorded 2,813 grants versus 2,848 in 2015–2019 (-1% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2020 at 691 grants and bottomed in 2023 at 470 (+47% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P. holds 4.3% of the class ; the top three share 12.0%.

Leaderboard read

B41M concentration, lead at 4.3%

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P. leads this historical grant record at 4.3% of B41M - foreign corporation assignees hold 61% of class grants (2,157 of 3,556). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 4.3%
Top three share: 12.0%
Lead over #2: 13

Where B41M sits inside B41

Among 11 subclasses in B41 (PRINTING; Lining MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; Stamps), B41M ranks #2 and holds 16.7% of the parent class's 38,209 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B41J 26,654 B41F 2,980 B41P 756 B41N 568 B41C 534 B41K 197 B41L 113 B41D 18

Rising assignees active in B41M

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 Primera Technology, Inc. 11x 1 → 11 company-wide · 11 in B41M
#2 Hymmen GmbH Maschinen- und Anlagenbau 7.00x 0 → 7 company-wide · 9 in B41M
#3 Unilin BV 6.11x 9 → 55 company-wide · 15 in B41M
#4 Appvion, LLC 6.00x 0 → 6 company-wide · 10 in B41M
#5 Sihl GmbH 4.00x 1 → 4 company-wide · 7 in B41M

B41M grants by year, peak 2020 (691)

US utility-patent grants per year in B41M, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 1% versus 2015–2019.

Hewlett-packard…

273
Ricoh

260
Xerox

230
Toshiba Tec

171
Dai Nippon Printing

116
Agfa

82
Mimaki Engineering

78
Sicpa Holding

69
Sun Chemical

60
Kao

54
Eastman Kodak

50
Toppan Printing

39

What this shows Seiko Epson is the most active filer in B41M, holding 300 of the 6,377 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 B41M
Rank	Company	Patents in B41M
#1	Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P.	273
#2	Ricoh Company, Ltd.	260
#3	Xerox Corporation	230
#4	Toshiba TEC Kabushiki Kaisha	171
#5	Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.	116
#6	Agfa NV	82
#7	Mimaki Engineering Co., Ltd.	78
#8	Sicpa Holding SA	69
#9	Sun Chemical Corporation	60
#10	KAO Corporation	54
#11	Eastman Kodak Company	50
#12	Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.	39
#13	Agfa-Gevaert NV	38
#14	Landa Corporation Ltd.	37
#15	Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated	36
#16	Viavi Solutions Inc.	33
#17	Ceraloc Innovation AB	32
#18	Electronics FOR Imaging, Inc.	30
#19	Kateeva, Inc.	28
#20	DE LA RUE International Limited	28

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B41M 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 B41M assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B41M. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B41M's 6,377-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B41M (#226 of 670 by volume ; lead share 4.7%) - not the B41 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

B24B 6,402 G08C 6,426 G16B 6,310 A01G 6,293

Nearest by lead-assignee share

B25B 4.7% B66F 4.7% B44C 4.7% F17D 4.7%

Questions about B41M

Which company holds the most patents in B41M?

Seiko Epson Corporation leads B41M with 300 patents (4.3% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 61% of class grants.

Which B41M assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B41M, Primera Technology, Inc. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (11x: 1 grants in 2019–2021 → 11 in 2022–2024) while holding 11 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does B41M compare inside parent class B41?

Inside B41 (PRINTING; Lining MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; Stamps), B41M ranks #2 of 11 subclasses by grant volume and holds 16.7% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B41J (26,654 grants).

What to do with this data

B41M in context - here's where to go next.

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P. leads B41M with 273 grants in this class. See full portfolio
B41M ranks #226 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class B41, the largest sibling subclass is B41J with 26,654 grants. Explore B41J

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

Methodology - B41M figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (6,377 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.