CPC technology class · B42

B42C - Bookbinding

Bookbinding. 578 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

578
US patents granted: #2/5
in B42: 13.9%
B42 class share: -43%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Bookbinding ranks #524 of 670 CPC technology areas - 578 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 43% over five years.

#524
of 670 CPC technology areas: 578
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Canon
leading assignee (72): -43%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B42C's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B42C recorded 194 grants versus 338 in 2015–2019 (-43% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2019 at 83 grants and bottomed in 2024 at 28 (+196% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Canon Finetech Nisca Inc. holds 9.0% of the class ; the top three share 21.3%.

Leaderboard read

B42C concentration, lead at 9.0%

Canon Finetech Nisca Inc. leads this historical grant record at 9.0% of B42C - foreign corporation assignees hold 86% of class grants (244 of 284). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 9.0%
Top three share: 21.3%
Lead over #2: 16

Where B42C sits inside B42

Among 5 subclasses in B42 (BOOKBINDING; ALBUMS; FILES; Special Printed Matter), B42C ranks #2 and holds 13.9% of the parent class's 4,157 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B42D 2,774 B42F 359 B42B 331 B42P 115

Rising assignees active in B42C

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 Kolbus GmbH & Co. KG 1.67x 3 → 5 company-wide · 5 in B42C
#2 Horizon International Inc. 1.25x 12 → 15 company-wide · 24 in B42C
#3 Canon Finetech Nisca Inc. 0.43x 117 → 50 company-wide · 52 in B42C
#4 Riso Kagaku Corporation 0.40x 89 → 36 company-wide · 6 in B42C
#5 Ferag AG 0.39x 31 → 12 company-wide · 9 in B42C

B42C grants by year, peak 2019 (83)

US utility-patent grants per year in B42C, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 43% versus 2015–2019.

Canon Finetech Nisca

52
Mueller Martini…

36
Fuji Xerox

35
Horizon International

24
Nisca

23
Lightning Source

11
Canon Finetech

10
Ferag

9
Unibind

8
Riso Kagaku

6
Lsc Communications Us

5
Kolbus & Kg

5

What this shows Canon is the most active filer in B42C, holding 72 of the 578 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 B42C
Rank	Company	Patents in B42C
#1	Canon Finetech Nisca Inc.	52
#2	Mueller Martini Holding AG	36
#3	Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.	35
#4	Horizon International Inc.	24
#5	Nisca Corporation	23
#6	Lightning Source LLC	11
#7	Canon Finetech Inc.	10
#8	Ferag AG	9
#9	Unibind Limited	8
#10	Riso Kagaku Corporation	6
#11	LSC Communications US, LLC	5
#12	Kolbus GmbH & Co. KG	5
#13	Minigraphics, Inc.	5
#14	Hunkeler AG	4
#15	Powis Parker Inc.	4
#16	Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.	3
#17	R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company	3
#18	Plockmatic International AB	3
#19	Peleman Industries, Naamloze Vennootschap	3
#20	Krdc Ltd.	3

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B42C 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 B42C assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B42C. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B42C's 578-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B42C (#524 of 670 by volume ; lead share 12.5%) - not the B42 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

C06B 579 A21C 581 D04C 584 B41N 568

Nearest by lead-assignee share

H10B 12.5% D06B 12.5% F42C 12.4% A41C 12.6%

Questions about B42C

Which company holds the most patents in B42C?

Canon Kabushiki Kaisha leads B42C with 72 patents (9.0% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 86% of class grants.

Which B42C assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B42C, Kolbus GmbH & Co. KG shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (1.67x: 3 grants in 2019–2021 → 5 in 2022–2024) while holding 5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does B42C compare inside parent class B42?

Inside B42 (BOOKBINDING; ALBUMS; FILES; Special Printed Matter), B42C ranks #2 of 5 subclasses by grant volume and holds 13.9% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B42D (2,774 grants).

What to do with this data

B42C in context - here's where to go next.

Canon Finetech Nisca Inc. leads B42C with 52 grants in this class. See full portfolio
B42C ranks #524 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class B42, the largest sibling subclass is B42D with 2,774 grants. Explore B42D

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

Methodology - B42C figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (578 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.