CPC technology class · B44

B44F - Special Designs Or Pictures

Special designs or pictures. 693 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

693
US patents granted: #2/4
in B44: 22.5%
B44 class share: +10%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Special Designs Or Pictures ranks #503 of 670 CPC technology areas - 693 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 10% over five years.

#503
of 670 CPC technology areas: 693
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Lg Chem
leading assignee (28): +10%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B44F's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B44F recorded 334 grants versus 304 in 2015–2019 (+10% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2021 at 72 grants and bottomed in 2018 at 52 (+38% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Flooring Industies Limited, Sarl holds 3.9% of the class ; the top three share 8.7%.

Leaderboard read

B44F concentration, lead at 3.9%

Flooring Industies Limited, Sarl leads this historical grant record at 3.9% of B44F - foreign corporation assignees hold 67% of class grants (195 of 292). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 3.9%
Top three share: 8.7%
Lead over #2: 9

Where B44F sits inside B44

Among 4 subclasses in B44 (Decorative Arts), B44F ranks #2 and holds 22.5% 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 B44D 321 B44B 274

Rising assignees active in B44F

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 Hymmen GmbH Maschinen- und Anlagenbau 7.00x 0 → 7 company-wide · 8 in B44F
#2 Unilin BV 6.11x 9 → 55 company-wide · 6 in B44F
#3 Xylo Technologies AG 1.78x 9 → 16 company-wide · 8 in B44F
#4 Nissha Co., Ltd. 1.41x 27 → 38 company-wide · 5 in B44F
#5 Flooring Industies Limited, Sarl 1.20x 71 → 85 company-wide · 27 in B44F

B44F grants by year, peak 2021 (72)

US utility-patent grants per year in B44F, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 10% versus 2015–2019.

Flooring Industies…

27
Cambria

18
Masonite

15
Sicpa Holding

12
Oldcastle Building…

10
Pergo (Europe) Ab

8
Xylo

8
Hymmen Maschinen- und…

8
Circle Graphics

7
Unilin Bv

6
Actega Metal Print

6
Valinge Innovation Ab

5

What this shows Lg Chem is the most active filer in B44F, holding 28 of the 693 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 B44F
Rank	Company	Patents in B44F
#1	Flooring Industies Limited, Sarl	27
#2	Cambria Company LLC	18
#3	Masonite Corporation	15
#4	Sicpa Holding SA	12
#5	Oldcastle Building Products Canada Inc.	10
#6	Pergo (EUROPE) AB	8
#7	Xylo Technologies AG	8
#8	Hymmen GmbH Maschinen- und Anlagenbau	8
#9	Circle Graphics, Inc.	7
#10	Unilin BV	6
#11	Actega Metal Print GMBH	6
#12	Valinge Innovation AB	5
#13	Nissha Co., Ltd.	5
#14	OVD Kinegram AG	5
#15	Keter Plastic Ltd.	4
#16	Flooring Technologies Ltd.	4
#17	Seiren Co., Ltd.	4
#18	Trinity Industrial Corporation	4
#19	Dal-Tile, LLC	4
#20	Shine Optoelectronics (Kunshan) Co., Ltd.	4

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B44F 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 B44F assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B44F. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B44F's 693-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B44F (#503 of 670 by volume ; lead share 4.0%) - not the B44 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

A62D 692 C25F 701 A24C 702 A41F 683

Nearest by lead-assignee share

F04D 4.0% D21C 4.1% F41G 4.0% G05G 4.0%

Questions about B44F

Which company holds the most patents in B44F?

LG Chem, Ltd. leads B44F with 28 patents (3.9% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 67% of class grants.

Which B44F assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B44F, Hymmen GmbH Maschinen- und Anlagenbau shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (7.00x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 7 in 2022–2024) while holding 8 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does B44F compare inside parent class B44?

Inside B44 (Decorative Arts), B44F ranks #2 of 4 subclasses by grant volume and holds 22.5% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B44C (1,788 grants).

What to do with this data

B44F in context - here's where to go next.

Flooring Industies Limited, Sarl leads B44F with 27 grants in this class. See full portfolio
B44F ranks #503 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 - B44F figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (693 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.