PlainPatent

CPC technology class · B65

B65H - Handling THIN OR Filamentary Material

Handling thin or filamentary material, e.g. sheets, webs, cables. 13,990 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

13,990
US patents granted
B65
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
-1%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Handling THIN OR Filamentary Material ranks #137 of 670 CPC technology areas - 13,990 US patents granted since 2015, with filing down 1% over five years.

#137
of 670 CPC technology areas
13,990
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Canon
leading assignee (1,301)
-1%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (1,301 patents)

CPC subclass B65H - HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES - covers 13,990 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class B65 (CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in B65H is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Canon Kabushiki Kaisha leads with 1,301 patents, followed by Seiko Epson Corporation at 748 grants and Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha at 649.

Filing activity in B65H is down 1% over the past five years versus 2015-2019, a relatively steady filing pace. All counts come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is B65H innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in B65H, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 1% versus 2015–2019.

8001,0001,2001,4001,600 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 872

Who leads B65H?

The 12 most active assignees in HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Canon is the most active filer in B65H, holding 1,301 of the 13,990 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 B65H
Rank Company Patents in B65H
#1 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha 1,301
#2 Seiko Epson Corporation 748
#3 Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha 649
#4 Ricoh Company, Ltd. 606
#5 Kyocera Document Solutions Inc. 585
#6 Toshiba TEC Kabushiki Kaisha 316
#7 Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.p. 262
#8 Konica Minolta, Inc. 242
#9 FUJI Xerox Co., Ltd. 194
#10 Canon Finetech Nisca Inc. 179
#11 Xerox Corporation 155
#12 Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp. 151
#13 The Procter & Gamble Company 144
#14 PFU Limited 100
#15 Glory Ltd. 97
#16 RISO Kagaku Corporation 78
#17 Oki Data Corporation 63
#18 Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. 62
#19 Bobst MEX Sa 62
#20 GRG Banking Equipment Co., Ltd. 53

About This Class

CPC subclass B65H belongs to class B65.

13,990 patents were granted in this class between 2015 and 2025.

20 companies actively patent in this space.

Classification System

Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) is a hierarchical patent classification system used by the USPTO and EPO.

← All Technology Classes Technology Rankings →

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B65H 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 B65H assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B65H. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Top 14 B65H assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B65H. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 81012141618 050010001500 Patents in B65H Avg claims / patent (company-wide) CanonSeiko EpsonBrother KogyoRicohKyocera Document Solu…Toshiba TecHewlett-packard Devel…Konica MinoltaFuji XeroxCanon Finetech NiscaXeroxFujifilm Business Inn…The Procter & GamblePfu
Top 14 B65H assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B65H. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class B65H?
CPC subclass B65H covers HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES. It belongs to CPC class B65 (CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL), with 13,990 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in B65H?
13,990 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass B65H between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in B65H?
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha leads B65H with 1,301 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for B65H collected?
Patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It covers all US granted utility patents and assigns CPC codes based on the technology described in each patent.
What is the difference between CPC class and subclass?
A CPC class (e.g., B65) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like B65H provide finer granularity within that category. PlainPatent organizes data at the subclass level (4-character codes) for the most useful view of technology domains.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent Editorial

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.