PlainPatent

CPC technology class · D04

D04C - Braiding OR Manufacture OF LACE

Braiding or manufacture of lace, including bobbin-net or carbonised lace; braiding machines; braid; lace. 584 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

584
US patents granted
D04
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+25%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Braiding OR Manufacture OF LACE ranks #521 of 670 CPC technology areas - 584 US patents granted since 2015, with filing up 25% over five years.

#521
of 670 CPC technology areas
584
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Nike
leading assignee (29)
+25%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: NIKE, Inc. (29 patents)

CPC subclass D04C - BRAIDING OR MANUFACTURE OF LACE, INCLUDING BOBBIN-NET OR CARBONISED LACE; BRAIDING MACHINES; BRAID; LACE - covers 584 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class D04 (BRAIDING; LACE-MAKING; KNITTING; TRIMMINGS; NON-WOVEN FABRICS). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in D04C is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. NIKE, Inc. leads with 29 patents, followed by Federal-mogul Powertrain Llc at 23 grants and Insera Therapeutics, Inc. at 16.

Filing activity in D04C is up 25% over the past five years versus 2015-2019, a sharp acceleration suggesting an emerging or fast-moving technology area. All counts come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is D04C innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in D04C, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 25% versus 2015–2019.

3040506070 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 33

Who leads D04C?

The 12 most active assignees in BRAIDING OR MANUFACTURE OF LACE, INCLUDING BOBBIN-NET OR CARBONISED LACE; BRAIDING MACHINES; BRAID; LACE - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Nike is the most active filer in D04C, holding 29 of the 584 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 D04C
Rank Company Patents in D04C
#1 Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc. 23
#2 Federal-mogul Powertrain Llc 23
#3 Insera Therapeutics, Inc. 16
#4 Occlutech Gmbh 13
#5 Biomet Sports Medicine, Llc 11
#6 Idev Technologies, Inc. 10
#7 Tepha, Inc. 9
#8 A&P Technology, Inc. 9
#9 C.r. Bard, Inc. 8
#10 Microvention, Inc. 8
#11 Everestmedica Llc 8
#12 Woven Orthopedic Technologies, Llc 7
#13 Sequent Medical, Inc. 6
#14 Inceptus Medical, Llc 6
#15 Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. 5
#16 Ratier-figeac SAS 5
#17 CLPH, Llc 5
#18 480 Biomedical Inc. 5
#19 Syntorr Inc. 5
#20 FUSE London Ltd 5

About This Class

CPC subclass D04C belongs to class D04.

584 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 D04C 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 D04C assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in D04C. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Top 14 D04C assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in D04C. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 1416182022 510152025 Patents in D04C Avg claims / patent (company-wide) Boston Scientific Sci…Federal-mogul Powertr…Insera TherapeuticsOcclutechBiomet Sports MedicineIdevTephaA&P TechnologyC R BardMicroventionEverestmedicaWoven OrthopedicSequent MedicalInceptus Medical
Top 14 D04C assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in D04C. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class D04C?
CPC subclass D04C covers BRAIDING OR MANUFACTURE OF LACE, INCLUDING BOBBIN-NET OR CARBONISED LACE; BRAIDING MACHINES; BRAID; LACE. It belongs to CPC class D04 (BRAIDING; LACE-MAKING; KNITTING; TRIMMINGS; NON-WOVEN FABRICS), with 584 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in D04C?
584 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass D04C between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in D04C?
NIKE, Inc. leads D04C with 29 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for D04C 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., D04) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like D04C 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.