CPC technology class · C09
C09D — Coating Compositions
Coating compositions, e.g. paints, varnishes or lacquers; filling pastes; chemical paint or ink removers; inks; correcting fluids; woodstains; pastes or solids for colouring or printing; use of materials therefor. 27,394 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.
- 27,394
- US patents granted
- C09
- Parent CPC class
- 20
- Active assignees
- +10%
- 5-yr velocity
CPC subclass C09D — COATING COMPOSITIONS, e.g. PAINTS, VARNISHES OR LACQUERS; FILLING PASTES; CHEMICAL PAINT OR INK REMOVERS; INKS; CORRECTING FLUIDS; WOODSTAINS; PASTES OR SOLIDS FOR COLOURING OR PRINTING; USE OF MATERIALS THEREFOR — covers 27,394 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records. This subclass sits within the broader CPC class C09 (DYES; PAINTS; POLISHES; NATURAL RESINS; ADHESIVES; COMPOSITIONS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; APPLICATIONS OF MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR), one of roughly 250 top-level technology categories in the Cooperative Patent Classification system jointly maintained by the USPTO and the European Patent Office. At the subclass level, four-character codes like C09D give the most practical resolution for tracking a specific technology domain without losing sight of adjacent filings. Every grant here has been classified by a USPTO examiner based on the technical disclosure in the patent specification.
The competitive landscape in C09D is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION leads with 578 patents, followed by DOW GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES LLC at 3,004 grants and LG CHEM, LTD. at 6,727. Concentration at the top of the leaderboard indicates whether this technology area is dominated by a handful of incumbents or fragmented across many filers — a useful signal for investors evaluating competitive moats and for product teams mapping freedom-to-operate risk.
Filing trajectory matters as much as static counts. The yearly series on this page plots grants from 2015 through 2025, highlighting whether innovation in C09D is accelerating, plateauing, or cooling. Technology areas with rising post-2020 activity often reflect emerging markets or new platform shifts, while declining filings can signal mature domains where incremental improvement has slowed. Researchers, licensing professionals, and competitive-intelligence teams use these patterns — together with the top-assignee distribution — to decide where to invest, where to license, and where to avoid entanglement. All counts on this page come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.
Is C09D innovation accelerating?
US utility-patent grants per year in C09D, 2015–2025 — recent five years are up 10% versus 2015–2019.
Who leads C09D?
The 12 most active assignees in COATING COMPOSITIONS, e.g. PAINTS, VARNISHES OR LACQUERS; FILLING PASTES; CHEMICAL PAINT OR INK REMOVERS; INKS; CORRECTING FLUIDS; WOODSTAINS; PASTES OR SOLIDS FOR COLOURING OR PRINTING; USE OF MATERIALS THEREFOR — wider bars mean more grants
- Seiko Epson
SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
14,235 patents
- Dow Global 3,004
DOW GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES LLC
3,004 patents
- Lg Chem
LG CHEM, LTD.
6,727 patents
- Fujifilm
FUJIFILM Corporation
8,518 patents
- 3m Innovative Propert…
3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY
5,993 patents
- Hewlett-packard Devel…
HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
8,656 patents
- Shin-etsu Chemical 2,184
SHIN-ETSU CHEMICAL CO., LTD.
2,184 patents
- Basf Se 4,191
BASF SE
4,191 patents
- Ricoh
RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
10,223 patents
- Xerox 3,772
Xerox Corporation
3,772 patents
- Ppg Industries Ohio 586
PPG Industries Ohio, Inc.
586 patents
- Rohm and Haas 803
Rohm and Haas Company
803 patents
What this shows Seiko Epson is the most active filer in C09D, holding 578 of the 27,394 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.
View data table
| Rank | Company | Patents in C09D |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION | 14,235 |
| #2 | DOW GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES LLC | 3,004 |
| #3 | LG CHEM, LTD. | 6,727 |
| #4 | FUJIFILM Corporation | 8,518 |
| #5 | 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY | 5,993 |
| #6 | HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P. | 8,656 |
| #7 | SHIN-ETSU CHEMICAL CO., LTD. | 2,184 |
| #8 | BASF SE | 4,191 |
| #9 | RICOH COMPANY, LTD. | 10,223 |
| #10 | Xerox Corporation | 3,772 |
| #11 | PPG Industries Ohio, Inc. | 586 |
| #12 | Rohm and Haas Company | 803 |
| #13 | BASF COATINGS GMBH | 263 |
| #14 | NISSAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES, LTD. | 445 |
| #15 | Sun Chemical Corporation | 211 |
| #16 | Merck Patent GmbH | 1,728 |
| #17 | DIC CORPORATION | 602 |
| #18 | DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, LTD. | 2,229 |
| #19 | EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY | 711 |
| #20 | SWIMC LLC | 207 |
About This Class
CPC subclass C09D belongs to class C09.
27,394 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CPC class C09D?
How many patents have been filed in C09D?
Which company holds the most patents in C09D?
How is patent data for C09D collected?
What is the difference between CPC class and subclass?
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Explore the patent dataset
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.