PlainPatent

CPC technology class · B43

B43L - Articles For Writing Or Drawing Upon

Articles for writing or drawing upon; ; writing or drawing aids;; accessories for writing or drawing. 358 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

358
US patents granted
#2/3
in B43
27.3%
B43 class share
+21%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Articles For Writing Or Drawing Upon ranks #571 of 670 CPC technology areas - 358 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 21% over five years.

#571
of 670 CPC technology areas
358
US patents granted, 2015–2025
SociÉTÉ Bic
leading assignee (11)
+21%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B43L's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B43L recorded 181 grants versus 149 in 2015–2019 (+21% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2020 at 53 grants and bottomed in 2018 at 22 (+141% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Crayola LLC holds 3.1% of the class ; the top three share 8.9%.

Leaderboard read

B43L concentration, lead at 3.1%

Crayola LLC leads this historical grant record at 3.1% of B43L - us corporation assignees hold 49% of class grants (80 of 164). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share
3.1%

11 of 358 grants

Top three share
8.9%

of the class's recorded grants

Lead over #2
0

more grants than SOCIÉTÉ BIC

Where B43L sits inside B43

Among 3 subclasses in B43 (Writing OR Drawing IMPLEMENTS; Bureau Accessories), B43L ranks #2 and holds 27.3% of the parent class's 1,309 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B43K 784 B43M 167

Rising assignees active in B43L

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 SOCIÉTÉ BIC 12x 5 → 61 company-wide · 11 in B43L
  2. #2 Amazing Magnets, LLC 4.00x 1 → 4 company-wide · 5 in B43L
  3. #3 Apex Brands, Inc. 2.39x 54 → 129 company-wide · 5 in B43L
  4. #4 Mitsubishi Pencil Company, Limited 1.58x 33 → 52 company-wide · 7 in B43L
  5. #5 Rocket Innovations, Inc. 1.40x 5 → 7 company-wide · 10 in B43L

B43L grants by year, peak 2020 (53)

US utility-patent grants per year in B43L, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 21% versus 2015–2019.

102030405060 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 21

Who leads B43L?

The 12 most active assignees in Articles FOR Writing OR Drawing UPON; ; Writing OR Drawing AIDS;; Accessories FOR Writing OR Drawing - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows SociÉTÉ Bic is the most active filer in B43L, holding 11 of the 358 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 B43L
Rank Company Patents in B43L
#1 Crayola LLC 11
#2 SOCIÉTÉ BIC 11
#3 Sanford L.P. 10
#4 Rocket Innovations, Inc. 10
#5 Comsero, Inc. 9
#6 Mitsubishi Pencil Company, Limited 7
#7 Societe BIC 6
#8 Kabushiki Kaisha Pilot Corporation 6
#9 SDI Corporation 6
#10 Apex Brands, Inc. 5
#11 Chameleon Holding Ltd 5
#12 Amazing Magnets, LLC 5
#13 Rockler Companies, Inc. 4
#14 Kent Displays, Inc. 4
#15 Tombow Pencil Co., Ltd. 4
#16 Hardwire, LLC 4
#17 Woodpeckers, LLC 3
#18 Staedtler Mars GMBH & Co. KG 3
#19 THE Pilot INK Company, Limited 3
#20 Exceptional IP Holdings, LLC 3

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B43L 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 B43L assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B43L. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 0510152025 24681012 Patents in B43L Avg claims / patent (company-wide) CrayolaSociÉTÉ BicSanfordRocket InnovationsComseroMitsubishi PencilSociete BicPilotSdiApex BrandsChameleon HoldingAmazing MagnetsRockler CompaniesKent Displays
Top 14 B43L assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B43L. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Questions about B43L

Which company holds the most patents in B43L?
SOCIÉTÉ BIC leads B43L with 11 patents (3.1% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 49% of class grants.
Which B43L assignees grew fastest recently?
Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B43L, SOCIÉTÉ BIC shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (12x: 5 grants in 2019–2021 → 61 in 2022–2024) while holding 11 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.
How does B43L compare inside parent class B43?
Inside B43 (Writing OR Drawing IMPLEMENTS; Bureau Accessories), B43L ranks #2 of 3 subclasses by grant volume and holds 27.3% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B43K (784 grants).

What to do with this data

B43L in context - here's where to go next.

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

Methodology - B43L figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (358 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.