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 grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

13,990
US patents granted: #3/6
in B65: 18.9%
B65 class share: -14%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Handling Thin Or Filamentary Material ranks #137 of 670 CPC technology areas - 13,990 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 14% over five years.

#137
of 670 CPC technology areas: 13,990
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Canon
leading assignee (1,301): -14%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B65H's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B65H recorded 5,873 grants versus 6,845 in 2015–2019 (-14% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2019 at 1,478 grants and bottomed in 2023 at 1,073 (+38% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Canon Kabushiki Kaisha holds 9.3% of the class ; the top three share 19.3%.

Leaderboard read

B65H concentration, lead at 9.3%

Canon Kabushiki Kaisha leads this historical grant record at 9.3% of B65H - foreign corporation assignees hold 78% of class grants (8,302 of 10,685). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 9.3%
Top three share: 19.3%
Lead over #2: 553

Where B65H sits inside B65

Among 6 subclasses in B65 (CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; Handling Thin OR Filamentary Material), B65H ranks #3 and holds 18.9% of the parent class's 73,904 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B65D 29,449 B65G 17,344 B65B 10,637 B65F 1,429 B65C 1,055

Rising assignees active in B65H

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 SK On Co., Ltd. 243x 0 → 243 company-wide · 7 in B65H
#2 TE Connectivity Solutions GmbH 68x 4 → 271 company-wide · 9 in B65H
#3 Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd. 55x 0 → 55 company-wide · 5 in B65H
#4 Magswitch Technology, Inc. 8.50x 2 → 17 company-wide · 6 in B65H
#5 Papeltec Overseas, Inc. 6.00x 0 → 6 company-wide · 8 in B65H

B65H grants by year, peak 2019 (1,478)

US utility-patent grants per year in B65H, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 14% versus 2015–2019.

Canon

1,301
Seiko Epson

748
Brother Kogyo

649
Ricoh

606
Kyocera Document…

585
Toshiba Tec

316
Hewlett-packard…

262
Konica Minolta

242
Fuji Xerox

194
Canon Finetech Nisca

179
Xerox

155
Fujifilm Business…

151

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.

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

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).

Classes near B65H's 13,990-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B65H (#137 of 670 by volume ; lead share 9.3%) - not the B65 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

A61Q 14,001 H03F 14,014 C12P 13,948 F02M 13,937

Nearest by lead-assignee share

F02B 9.3% B60N 9.4% C13K 9.2% D07B 9.1%

Questions about B65H

Which company holds the most patents in B65H?

Canon Kabushiki Kaisha leads B65H with 1,301 patents (9.3% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 78% of class grants.

Which B65H assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B65H, SK On Co., Ltd. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (243x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 243 in 2022–2024) while holding 7 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does B65H compare inside parent class B65?

Inside B65 (CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; Handling Thin OR Filamentary Material), B65H ranks #3 of 6 subclasses by grant volume and holds 18.9% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B65D (29,449 grants).

What to do with this data

B65H in context - here's where to go next.

Canon Kabushiki Kaisha leads B65H with 1,301 grants in this class. See full portfolio
B65H ranks #137 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class B65, the largest sibling subclass is B65D with 29,449 grants. Explore B65D

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

Methodology - B65H figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (13,990 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.