CPC technology class · G02

G02F — Optical Devices OR Arrangements FOR THE Control OF Light…

Optical devices or arrangements for the control of light by modification of the optical properties of the media of the elements involved therein; non-linear optics; frequency-changing of light; optical logic elements; optical analogue/digital converters. 52,876 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

52,876
US patents granted
G02
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+7%
5-yr velocity
Top assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. (5,656 patents)

CPC subclass G02F — OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS — covers 52,876 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records. This subclass sits within the broader CPC class G02 (OPTICS), 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 G02F 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 G02F is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. leads with 5,656 patents, followed by BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. at 18,263 grants and Japan Display Inc. at 5,401. 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 G02F 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 G02F innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in G02F, 2015–2025 — recent five years are up 7% versus 2015–2019.

2,0003,0004,0005,0006,000 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 2,581

Who leads G02F?

The 12 most active assignees in OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS — wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Samsung is the most active filer in G02F, holding 5,656 of the 52,876 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

About This Class

CPC subclass G02F belongs to class G02.

52,876 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 G02F?
CPC subclass G02F covers OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS. It belongs to CPC class G02 (OPTICS). The Cooperative Patent Classification is a hierarchical system used by the USPTO and European Patent Office to categorize patents by technology.
How many patents have been filed in G02F?
52,876 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass G02F between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in G02F?
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. leads G02F with 5,656 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for G02F 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., G02) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like G02F provide finer granularity within that category. PlainPatent organizes data at the subclass level (4-character codes) for the most useful view of technology domains.

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Explore the patent dataset

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