CPC technology class · F21

F21S - Non-portable Lighting Devices

Non-portable lighting devices; systems thereof; vehicle lighting devices specially adapted for vehicle exteriors. 15,705 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

15,705
US patents granted: #3/6
in F21: 21.8%
F21 class share: +16%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Non-portable Lighting Devices ranks #120 of 670 CPC technology areas - 15,705 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 16% over five years.

#120
of 670 CPC technology areas: 15,705
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Koito Manufacturing
leading assignee (564): +16%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How F21S's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, F21S recorded 7,649 grants versus 6,589 in 2015–2019 (+16% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2019 at 2,039 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 887 (+130% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd. holds 3.6% of the class ; the top three share 8.2%.

Leaderboard read

F21S concentration, lead at 3.6%

Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd. leads this historical grant record at 3.6% of F21S - foreign corporation assignees hold 60% of class grants (6,328 of 10,628). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 3.6%
Top three share: 8.2%
Lead over #2: 148

Where F21S sits inside F21

Among 6 subclasses in F21 (Lighting), F21S ranks #3 and holds 21.8% of the parent class's 72,153 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

F21V 23,679 F21Y 17,865 F21K 7,021 F21W 6,556 F21L 1,327

Rising assignees active in F21S

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 Korrus, Inc. 71x 0 → 71 company-wide · 17 in F21S
#2 HLI Solutions, Inc. 46x 0 → 46 company-wide · 23 in F21S
#3 Hubbell Lighting, Inc. 32x 0 → 32 company-wide · 14 in F21S
#4 Xiamen Longstar Lighting Co., Ltd. 30x 0 → 30 company-wide · 8 in F21S
#5 Goodrich Lighting Systems GmbH & Co. KG 29x 0 → 29 company-wide · 15 in F21S

F21S grants by year, peak 2019 (2,039)

US utility-patent grants per year in F21S, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 16% versus 2015–2019.

Koito Manufacturing

564
Valeo Vision

416
Signify Holding B V

304
Stanley Electric

271
Hyundai Mobis

243
Lg Innotek

234
Zkw Group

213
Lumileds

205
Hella & Kgaa

195
Abl Ip Holding

192
Osram

169
Cooper

165

What this shows Koito Manufacturing is the most active filer in F21S, holding 564 of the 15,705 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 F21S
Rank	Company	Patents in F21S
#1	Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd.	564
#2	Valeo Vision	416
#3	Signify Holding B.V.	304
#4	Stanley Electric Co., Ltd.	271
#5	Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd.	243
#6	LG Innotek Co., Ltd.	234
#7	ZKW Group GmbH	213
#8	Lumileds LLC	205
#9	Hella GmbH & Co. KGaA	195
#10	ABL IP Holding LLC	192
#11	Osram GmbH	169
#12	Cooper Technologies Company	165
#13	Cree, Inc.	155
#14	Hubbell Incorporated	134
#15	Valeo North America, Inc.	127
#16	Nichia Corporation	124
#17	SL Corporation	119
#18	Ichikoh Industries, Ltd.	105
#19	Ideal Industries Lighting LLC	103
#20	Philips Lighting Holding B.V.	102

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading F21S 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 F21S assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F21S. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near F21S's 15,705-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for F21S (#120 of 670 by volume ; lead share 3.6%) - not the F21 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

B01L 15,586 H02P 16,031 F16D 15,330 F04D 16,174

Nearest by lead-assignee share

Y10S 3.6% F23L 3.6% F23J 3.6% G01H 3.6%

Questions about F21S

Which company holds the most patents in F21S?

Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd. leads F21S with 564 patents (3.6% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 60% of class grants.

Which F21S assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in F21S, Korrus, Inc. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (71x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 71 in 2022–2024) while holding 17 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does F21S compare inside parent class F21?

Inside F21 (Lighting), F21S ranks #3 of 6 subclasses by grant volume and holds 21.8% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is F21V (23,679 grants).

What to do with this data

F21S in context - here's where to go next.

Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd. leads F21S with 564 grants in this class. See full portfolio
F21S ranks #120 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class F21, the largest sibling subclass is F21V with 23,679 grants. Explore F21V

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

Methodology - F21S figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (15,705 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.