CPC technology class · B44

B44D - Painting Or Artistic Drawing

Painting or artistic drawing, not otherwise provided for; preserving paintings; surface treatment to obtain special artistic surface effects or finishes. 321 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

321
US patents granted: #3/4
in B44: 10.4%
B44 class share: -3%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Painting Or Artistic Drawing ranks #577 of 670 CPC technology areas - 321 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 3% over five years.

#577
of 670 CPC technology areas: 321
US patents granted, 2015–2025: The Sherwin-williams
leading assignee (15): -3%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B44D's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B44D recorded 143 grants versus 147 in 2015–2019 (-3% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2017 at 40 grants and bottomed in 2018 at 21 (+90% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee The Sherwin-Williams Company holds 4.7% of the class ; the top three share 11.2%.

Leaderboard read

B44D concentration, lead at 4.7%

The Sherwin-Williams Company leads this historical grant record at 4.7% of B44D - us corporation assignees hold 83% of class grants (135 of 163). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 4.7%
Top three share: 11.2%
Lead over #2: 4

Where B44D sits inside B44

Among 4 subclasses in B44 (Decorative Arts), B44D ranks #3 and holds 10.4% of the parent class's 3,076 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B44C 1,788 B44F 693 B44B 274

Rising assignees active in B44D

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 Tracer Imaging LLC 4.40x 5 → 22 company-wide · 10 in B44D
#2 Apex Brands, Inc. 2.39x 54 → 129 company-wide · 9 in B44D
#3 Bercom International, LLC 2.00x 8 → 16 company-wide · 7 in B44D
#4 Likwid Concepts LLC 2.00x 0 → 2 company-wide · 5 in B44D
#5 Swimc LLC 1.94x 51 → 99 company-wide · 11 in B44D

B44D grants by year, peak 2017 (40)

US utility-patent grants per year in B44D, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 3% versus 2015–2019.

The Sherwin-williams

15
Swimc

11
Crayola

10
Tracer Imaging

10
Apex Brands

9
Pergo (Europe) Ab

8
Behr Process

7
Bercom International

7
Circle Graphics

6
Likwid Concepts

5
Pratt Corrugated…

4
Zibra

4

What this shows The Sherwin-williams is the most active filer in B44D, holding 15 of the 321 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 B44D
Rank	Company	Patents in B44D
#1	The Sherwin-Williams Company	15
#2	Swimc LLC	11
#3	Crayola LLC	10
#4	Tracer Imaging LLC	10
#5	Apex Brands, Inc.	9
#6	Pergo (EUROPE) AB	8
#7	Behr Process Corporation	7
#8	Bercom International, LLC	7
#9	Circle Graphics, Inc.	6
#10	Likwid Concepts LLC	5
#11	Pratt Corrugated Holdings, Inc.	4
#12	Zibra, LLC	4
#13	Valspar Sourcing, Inc.	3
#14	Slice, Inc.	3
#15	The Wooster Brush Company	3
#16	Zhengzhou Sanhua Technology & Industry Co., Ltd.	3
#17	Fillon Technologies	3
#18	PaintBTR, LLC	3
#19	Diamond Art Club, LLC	3
#20	Irwin Industrial Tool Company	2

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B44D 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 B44D assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B44D. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Questions about B44D

Which company holds the most patents in B44D?

The Sherwin-Williams Company leads B44D with 15 patents (4.7% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 83% of class grants.

Which B44D assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B44D, Tracer Imaging LLC shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (4.40x: 5 grants in 2019–2021 → 22 in 2022–2024) while holding 10 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does B44D compare inside parent class B44?

Inside B44 (Decorative Arts), B44D ranks #3 of 4 subclasses by grant volume and holds 10.4% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B44C (1,788 grants).

What to do with this data

B44D in context - here's where to go next.

The Sherwin-Williams Company leads B44D with 15 grants in this class. See full portfolio
B44D ranks #577 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class B44, the largest sibling subclass is B44C with 1,788 grants. Explore B44C

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

Methodology - B44D figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (321 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.