Kao’s Newest IP in Haircare, Skincare, Personal Care and Packaging

Kao—the company behind high-profile beauty and personal care brands such as Bioré, Goldwell, Jergens, John Frieda, Kanebo and Molton Brown—has R&D teams across the globe. This week, Kao researchers working from Tokyo to Germany to the US helped the company add several new US patents to its intellectual property (IP). The recently awarded patents span from UV skin protection to haircare to packaging to surfactant technology.

Here’s a closer look at patents announced this week by the US Patent & Trademark Office:

UV Protective Coating

US Patent No. 11,737,958 B2 (Tomonari Okada); Kao Corporation, Tokyo, has been awarded a US patent for a method of forming a UV protective porous coating in the form of a “deposit of continuous fibers on skin.” The method entails applying a first composition comprising a UV protective agent to the skin, and separately electrostatically spraying a second composition that has two components (A + B) directly onto the skin, thereby depositing the second composition in the form of a deposit of continuous fibers at a site of application to form the UV protective porous coating on the skin. Component A is a volatile substance comprising at least one member selected from the group consisting of ethanol and 1-butanol. Component B comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl butyral, polyacrylate and polyvinyl acetal diethylaminoacetate. The second composition is in a liquid form at 20°C.

Hair Treatment Paste

US Patent No. 11,737,962 B2 (Sabine Schmid, Melina Sulzbach); Kao Germany has patented an  aqueous composition for keratin fibers. It is comprised of one or more triglycerides comprising fatty acyl chain with a C length from 8 to 16 carbon atoms; a non-ionic thickening polymer with a polymerization degree of less than or equal to 400; a thixotropic gel forming anionic polymer; and water. The paste has a viscosity of at least 150,000 mPa·s and up to 1,000,000 mPa·s, measured at 20°C. with a Brookfiled viscosimeter Spindle 96 at 10 rpm.

Leave-In Hair Conditioner with Heat-Styling Responsive Film

US Patent No. 11,737,963 B2 ( Michelle Rolfes, and Adam Schrott); Kao USA Inc. has patented a a leave-in hair care composition. It contains behentrimonium chloride; behenamidopropyl dimethylamine; cetearyl alcohol; carnauba wax; bis-diisopropanolamino-PG-propyl dimethicone/bis-isobutyl PEG-14 copolymer, and polysorbate 20, and butyloctanol; dimethicone; glyoxylic acid; benzoic acid; isoproypyl palmitate; benzyl alcohol; sodium hydroxide; coconut oil; hydrolyzed keratin; and deionized water, pH adjuster, fragrance, and preservative to bring the composition to 100% by weight.

Additional Kao Patents

Additionally, Kao Corp., Tokyo, was awarded US Patent No. US 11,737,959 B2 (Jens Heilmann, Diana Bauer, Steven Breakspear, Peter Bauer) for a two-part  oxidative dyeing composition; US Patent No. 11,739,039 B2 (Shogo Kamenoue, Hiroshi Hori, Takashi Wakasa, Shunsuke Koriki, Takashi Mizooku, Ryuya Arata, Akiyoshi Kimura) for a surfactant; and US Patent No. 11,738,928 B2 (Akira Kuragano, Yoshinori Inagawa, Daisuke Kodama, Ryo Shibutani) for a flexible container.

At the end of 2022, Kao held 15,002 patents. 

Kao: A Happi International Top 30 Company

Kao was ranked No 7 in Happi’s International Top 30 Report, which was published this month.