Printing processes to produce particular kinds of printed work, e.g. patterns

Introduced: September 1968

Last revised: January 2006

Classification Context

Section:: PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
Class:: PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
Subclass:: PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING

Filing statistics

IPC B41M 3/00 belongs to the parent subclass B41M, which recorded 51,201 patent applications worldwide between 2013 and 2023. Annual filings declined from 4,742 in 2013 to 3,298 in 2023 (-30%), peaking at 5,357 applications in 2018. The most active applicants in class B41 are SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION (14,672 applications), CANON (14,153 applications) and RICOH COMPANY (8,049 applications).

Source: EPO PATSTAT, worldwide filings

8 direct subcodes

Child Classifications

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B41M 3/02 Maps; Sea or meteorological charts
B41M 3/04 Music
B41M 3/06 Veined printings; Fluorescent printings; Stereoscopic images; Imitated patterns, e.g. tissues, textiles
B41M 3/1 Watermarks
B41M 3/12 Transfer pictures or the like, e.g. decalcomanias
B41M 3/14 Security printing
B41M 3/16 Braille printing
B41M 3/18 Particular kinds of wallpapers

Top Applicants

Top 10 applicants by patent filingsfor class B41, 2013–2023, worldwide · Source: EPO PATSTAT

SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION 14,672
CANON 14,153
RICOH COMPANY 8,049
SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION JP 8,044
HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY US 7,312
BROTHER INDUSTRIES 6,887
KYOCERA DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS 5,463
CANON JP 5,001
KONICA MINOLTA CORPORATION 4,512
BROTHER INDUSTRIES JP 3,681