More medical-based differentiating claims, more food-based discoveries, but an otherwise steady path
The personal care and cosmetics industry has witnessed rapid waves of innovation over the past decade, from purely technical developments, such as new materials to new differentiating claims like sustainability. Now under growing pressure from newcomers (formulators as well as pure brand licensees with a limited product range), the industry incumbents are investing in R&D to remain ahead. Intellectual property (IP) and marketplace platform Tradespace takes a look at the IP that came out of this decade’s innovative efforts.
Here’s some of what we’ve learned from the patents granted to the industry giants, illustrated when we model the collection of patents across some new perspectives.
Personal Care Industry – IP Highlights
Upon taking a look at patenting activity, the first thing to notice is the ongoing domination of familiar industry names. L’Oreal (~ 1,500 new patents in the past decade), Proctor & Gamble (P&G), Colgate, and Unilever (~ 500 new patents) still flex their muscles when it comes to the sheer volume of inventions coming out of their labs.
But looking at the top patents (most cited) from the industry’s leaders, we notice a tendency to stay in their lanes. L’Oreal’s cream of the crop is largely an onslaught of hair-dying inventions, a couple of material sciences and a single outlier being a sunscreen application. KAO’s patent portfolio tells a similar story, and most of the other industry heavyweights barely register on the radar of noteworthy patents, but for one or two formulations usually near their long established leading categories.
Some of the other more popular patents represent work done in fundamental research in material sciences, such as nanoparticulate (BASF) or fragrances (INTFF), as well as the consolidation of IP around some key new applications such as wet wipes (with Kimberly Clark, P&G) or hair growth (Allergan), but overall the plateau-ing trends seen in previous Tradespace analysis of the market still hold.
On an aggregate level though, a pattern seems to emerge, with an increase in patent applications (and patents granted) under the Medical Technology grouping, compared with a decrease of filing under the Consumer Goods grouping.
Simply stated, the industry is moving towards health and wellness related benefits, rather than pure aesthetics and performance, and the patent landscape highlights that trend.
Within the medical technology category, a noteworthy trend is the rise of patents for composition containing organic active ingredients (nearly 700 patents since 2009), but most applications are filed under a broader category offering less visibility into larger trends.
On the consumer goods side, Essential Oils patents peaked in the 2014-2018 period (around 20 new patents annually) but are now retreating to pre-peak levels (< five per year), whereas patents based on food products are seeing a 10x increase these past three years (2017-2019) with as many as 36 new patents (in 2017).
Overall, macro-trends such as these tell a succinct story but innovators and formulators in the personal care industry are breaking new grounds in the remote corners of the patent system’s taxonomy, often unseen from this perspective. As a result, Tradespace has built the tools to delve into unique patents and companies portfolios directly, and to empower researchers and business development professionals to identify the hidden gems among the noise.
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Hi Mathieu Guerville,
How are you ?
I want to contact you , please share your WhatsApp or email .
Thanks
Hi Pradeep,
Please feel free to reach out. My email is [email protected].
Best,
Mathieu
Here we get to know about personal care ip trends. I loved it very much and enjoyedreading this blog . And would suggest others it as well. Great blog indeed, will visit again future to read more!!