元宇宙知识产权态势报告 - GOV.UK

发布于2024年3月7日1.执行摘要2.介绍3.专利分析4.商标分析5.结论.uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html1/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UK如果您希望以PDF格式阅读此报告，请选择页面左侧的“打印此页”按钮，然后选择打印为PDF的选项。虚拟宇宙是一个没有明确定义的概念，一些定义它的尝试一直存在争议。然而，由于该术语很受欢迎，我们决定在本报告中采用该术语。我们没有将其使用限制在特定的定义中，而是使用该术语来广泛地描述共享的在线虚拟空间。一般来说，访问此元宇宙环境是通过现有硬件，例如头戴式设备(HMD)。这种现有的硬件通常涉及比元宇宙一词本身更古老的底层概念。本报告旨在概述与元宇宙相关的知识产权格局。它通过查看专利趋势来实现这一点，通过使用相关关键字和分类的组合来找到相关专利。本报告特别关注国际专利族(IPF)，即已在至少两个不同机构提交的专利申请。除了专利状况外，本报告还研究了与元宇宙相关的商标状况。它通过对商品和服务描述进行自由文本分析，并搜索与元宇宙相关的特定术语来实现这一点。截至2021年6月30日，共发现71,738个与虚拟宇宙相关的IPF。该报告发现，在查看每个出版年的IPF时，与Metaverse相关的专利数量从2015年（3,027个IPF）到2018年（4,683个IPF）急剧增加。此外，最受欢迎的发明人所在地是美国，拥有26,196个IPF。日本是第二受欢迎的国家，其IPF数量不到美国的一半。除了原始专利数量之外，该报告还使用相对专业化指数（RSI）来研究专业化。英国的RSI值为0.15，表明与元宇宙相关的专利申请的专业程度。英国在与虚拟世界相关的专利申请方面比法国和德国等其他欧洲国家更加专业化，这两个国家的RSI值为负，表明与虚拟世界相关的专利申请的专业化程度较低。高通是拥有元宇宙相关IPF最多的公司，拥有2,811个IPF。华为一直在快速增加元界相关IPF的数量，2021年发布的IPF比2015年增加了190%。在商标申请方面，与虚拟世界相关的申请越来越受欢迎。截至2023年6月30日，已发现31,503件与Metaverse相关的英国商标申请。2010年之前，这些申请大多数与商品相关，但近年来，与元宇宙相关的服务商标申请越来越受欢迎。此外，描述字段中包含虚拟现实相关单词或短语的商标申请数量从2014年到2018年增加了五倍，2022年英国商标申请中约有2.36%包含规范术语“虚拟现实”。总之，本报告强调，虚拟世界的日益普及反映在知识产权趋势中，而这种知识产权趋势可以成为跟踪新兴技术的有用证据基础。.uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html3/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UK虚拟宇宙是一个没有明确定义的概念，一些定义它的尝试一直存在争议。然而，由于该术语很受欢迎，我们决定在本报告中采用该术语。我们没有将其使用限制在特定的定义中，而是使用该术语来广泛地描述共享的在线虚拟空间。近年来，这个领域引起了人们的广泛关注，许多不同的公司正在开发技术以使用户能够访问这种共享的虚拟现实。值得注意的是Meta（原Facebook于2021年更名，以反映该公司对虚拟世界的新关注。[脚注1]一般来说，对元宇宙环境的访问是通过头戴式设备（HMD）等硬件来实现的，并辅以适当的软件开发。其中一些硬件技术已经存在多年，虚拟宇宙可以被认为是这种已有技术的新应用。虚拟宇宙是一个快速新兴、创新且具有潜在颠覆性的领域，几乎没有具体的监管。预计元界用户数量在不久的将来将迅速增长，预计到2030年用户数量将超过14亿，预计到2030年市场规模将达到4,904亿美元。[脚注2][脚注3]知识产权处于新兴技术的前沿，对专利和商标申请的申请趋势进行分析可以深入了解一个行业内的行为。对与虚拟世界相关的知识产权的分析将有助于建立虚拟世界的证据基础，从而促进监管的发展并了解其更广泛的影响。本报告总结了与元宇宙相关的专利和商标申请趋势，以拓宽对该技术知识产权格局的理解。出于本报告的目的，使用了元界的广泛定义，以便捕获元界一词之前可能存在的基础技术。本报告中使用的元宇宙的定义与政府关于“启用国家网络物理基础设施（CPI）以促进创新”的咨询文件的定义一致。其中，元节定义为：““元宇宙”描述了一种特定类型的网络物理系统，特别关注物理世界和数字世界的沉浸式视觉集成，以实现协作、娱乐、社交以及虚拟服务和操作的访问。”[脚注4]”本报告着眼于全球范围内与元宇宙相关的专利情况，以及英国的具体情况。然后，它使用与元宇宙相关的术语调查英国商标申请的趋势。3.1方法论专利数据是通过查询PatentSight（由LexisNexis提供的商用专利数据库）检索的。[脚注5]这是使用结合关键词和相关IPC/CPC分类的定制搜索策略进行查询的。使用的查询可以在附录A中找到。检索仅限于2000年起发布的专利，截至并包括提取之日（2023年6月30日）可用的数据。由于标准的专利发布延迟18个月，2022年至2023年的专利数据不完整。因此，2022年至2023年的数据已从日期相关图表中排除，但已包含在总数中。该检索使用了国际专利家族(IPF)，这些专利家族至少向两个.uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html4/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UK机构提交了申请。使用IPF是因为与使用已公布专利申请的绝对计数相比，它们是衡量发明活动更可靠的方法。IPF是发明活动的中立代理，因为它们仅代表申请人认为足够重要以寻求国际保护的发明，从而对专利质量和价值提供一定程度的控制。它们创建了足够同质的专利族群体，可以直接相互比较，从而减少在比较不同国家专利局的专利申请时经常出现的国家偏见。截至2023年6月30日，已发现71,738个与虚拟宇宙相关的IPF。3.2结果图1显示了与虚拟世界相关的国际专利族(IPF)的数量如何从2000年发布的1,260个增加到2021年发布的4,167个IPF。这一增长趋势与过去一年中所有技术发布的IPF的增长趋势大致相似。同一时间段。从2013年到2018年，每年发布的MetaverseIPF似乎显着增加，2018年MetaverseIPF的数量比2013年增加了68%。相比之下，所有技术的IPF仅比2013年增加了15%大体时间。元宇宙IPF的主要增长可以从2015年至2018年看出，同期所有IPF的增长速度均较慢。原始数据见附录C表1。NumberofMtaverseIPFs4,5004,0000400,000350,000300,000250,000200,00050,0000NumberofIPFsinAlltechnologies200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162PublicaƟonYear图1：2000-2021年每个出版年的Metaverse相关国际专利族(IPF)数量与每年所有技术的IPF数量相比。图2显示了按发明人所在地划分的MetaverseIPF数量。发明人国家/地区是通过查看提供的发明人地址来确定的。如果IPF有多位来自不同国家的发明人，则按每个发明人所在国家计算一次。这意味着这里所有IPF的总和可能高于与.uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html5/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UKmetaverse相关的IPF总数。本报告中使用发明国作为创新活动地点的代表。美国是迄今为止最受欢迎的发明家国家，超过三分之一的虚拟世界IPF至少有一名发明家位于美国。排名前十的发明人国家如图2所示，进一步数据参见附录C表2。按发明人国家的虚拟IPF数量排名，英国排名第六，有3,682个IPF。0772,,,,JapanInventorCountry图2：从2000年起发布的每个发明国的MetaverseIPF数量。调查专利的绝对数量只能提供有限的见解。为了更好地了解哪些国家可能专门从事与元宇宙相关的专利申请，查看相对专业化指数(RSI)很有用。该指数表明一个国家在某项特定技术上发明了多少专利，与该国家发明的专利总数相比。因此，它表明一个国家在特定技术中发明的专利是否比预期的要多，考虑到一个国家专利申请的总体水平。然后可以将其与其他国家的相同衡量标准进行比较，以表明某些国家在特定技术的专利申请方面是否比其他国家更专业。如果一个国家的RSI值为正，则表明其在技术领域的专业程度较高，值越高表明专业程度越高。相反，负值表明专业程度较低，负值越大表明专业程度越低。然而，RSI是一个相对衡量标准，这意味着RSI值会因技术领域的专利申请水平不同而有所不同。这意味着RSI值本身在不同技术之间不具有可比性，但不同国家在不同技术上的排名可以提供一些见解。有关如何计算RSI的详细信息，请参阅附录B。LookingspecificallyatRSIforIPFsrelatingtothemetaverse,Figure3showsthatbothIsraelandIndiaappeartohavethehighestdegreeofspecialism,withRSIvaluesof0.30and0.29,respectively.AnumberofthecountriesshownhavepositiveRSIvalues,indicatingthesearemore.uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html6/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UKspecialisedwhenitcomestometaverseIPFsthanwouldbeexpectedgiventheoveralllevelsofpatentsbeinginventedinthesecountries.TheUKhasanRSIvalueof0.15,whichishigherthantheRSIvaluesseenforotherEuropeancountrieswithsimilardemographicssuchasGermany(RSIof-0.25)andFrance(-0.03).NormalisedRelaƟveSpecialisaitonIndex(RSI)-0.40-0.30-0.20-0.100.000.100.200.300.40InventorCountry AustraliaSingapore CanadaInventorCountryChina NetherlandsSwitzerlandGermanyJapan-0.2-0.26-0.26-0.04-0.07-0-0.0-0.04-0.07-0-0.04400.0200.050.300.29Figure3:RelativeSpecialisationIndex(RSI)forMetaverseIPFsperinventorcountryforselectedcountries,publishedfrom2000onwards.Itisusefultounderstandwhothetopownersofpatentsarewithinatechnologysector,andassuchthisreportlooksatthetopownersofIPFsrelatingtothemetaverse.Figure4showsthetoptenownersofIPFsrelatingtothemetaverse,whereit’sclearthatinformationtechnologycompaniesarethemostactiveinthissector.FurtherdatacanbefoundinAppendixC,Table3.QualcommhasthemostIPFsrelatingtothemetaverse,with2,811IPFs,accountingforaround4%ofallmetaverse.uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html7/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UKQualcommSamsungSonyMicrosoŌLGElectronicsAlphabetHuaweiNokiaSiemensApple05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0002,5592,0751,3299719309258726982,5592,0751,3299719309258726982,811Figure4:NumberofMetaverseIPFsperowner,publishedfrom2000onwards.Figure5looksatthenumberofmetaverseIPFspublishedperyearforthetopownersidentifiedabove.Thisislimitedto2015-2021tofocusonthemostrecenttrendsforthesetopowners.HuaweihavebeensteadilyincreasingthenumberofmetaverseIPFspublishedperyear,increasingover190%from48IPFspublishedin2015,to140IPFspublishedin2021.Thisincreaseappearstobemostprominentbetween2020and2021,suggestinganincreaseinHuawei’sfocusinthisarea.LGappeartohavepublishedahighnumberofIPFsin2019(284)comparedtootheryears.Appleappeartohaveincreasedtheirpatentingactivityinthisareafromaround2019.LookingatQualcomm,thenumberofmetaverseIPFspublishedperyearseemstohavesignificantlydroppedafter2018,with53%lessIPFspublishedin2019comparedto2018..uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html8/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UK300250200150100500AlphabetAppleHuaweiLGElectronicsMicrosoŌNokiaQualcommSamsungSiemensSony2015201620172018201920202021Figure5:NumberofmetaverseIPFsfortoptenowners,groupedbypublicationyear,2015-2021.MovingtolookspecificallyattheUKpicture,Figure6looksspecificallyatthenumberofmetaverseIPFsinventedintheUKperpublicationyearcomparedtothenumberofIPFsinalltechnologieswhichwereinventedintheUK.ThenumberofmetaverseIPFsperyearbroadlyfollowsthetrendforallIPFsperyear,withtheexceptionof2010.In2010thereisasignificantspikewherethenumberofmetaverseIPFsjumps162%onthepreviousyear,beforedroppingbacktoamorebaselinelevelfrom2011onwards.Furtherinvestigationintothispeakshowsthatitisanincreaseacrossmultipleowners,ratherthanbeinglimitedtooneowner.Inaddition,thetechnologysplitforIPFspublishedin2010isbroadlysimilartothetechnologysplitformetaverseIPFsacrossthewholetimeperiodinvestigated..uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html9/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UK00UKIPFsinalltechnologiesPublicaƟonyearFigure6:NumberofMetaverserelatedInternationalPatentFamilies(IPFs)perpublicationyearinventedintheUK,comparedtothenumberofIPFsinalltechnologiesperyear,2000-2021.MovingtolookatthetopownersofmetaverseIPFsinventedintheUK,Figure7showsthatthesebroadlyalignwiththetopplayersworldwideinthisfield.AcompanysuchasBAEsystemsmaynotbeexpected,butfurtheranalysisshowsthatwithinmetaverserelatedIPFs,BAEaremostlyactiveintechnologiesrelatingtohead-mounteddisplays.AnumberoftheseinternationalcompaniesemployUKbasedinventors,whichiswhythesecompaniesappearwhenlookingatmetaverserelatedIPFsinventedintheUK..uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html10/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UKOwnerSonyQualcommMicrosoŌCirrusLogicSnapAlphabetAppleSamsung02040608010TopUKownersofMetaverseIPFspublishedfrom2000onwards.4.TrademarkanalysisAnalysisfortrademarksrelevanttothescopeofthismetaverseanalysiswereconductedbyfilteringthetrademarksspecificationfieldforeachapplicationintheUKIPO’sdatabaseof4.1millionapplicationsagainstalistofcoreterms,foroneormorematches.ItisworthnotingthattherehasbeenasignificantincreaseinthetotalnumberoftrademarkapplicationsmadetotheIPOsince2016.Thesehavebeenmostlyattributedtothreefactors,asdiscussedintheIPO’sannualFactsandFiguresstatisticalpublication.ThesefactorsareasignificantsurgeinapplicationsfromChina,theCOVID-19pandemicandfilingsdrivenbytheUK’sexitfromtheEuropeanUnion.ThefirsttworeasonshaveseenthenumberofapplicationsincreaseforthemajorityofIPofficesglobally[footnote6],howeverthesizeofthisincreaseismuchsmallerintheseIPofficessincetheUK’sexitfromtheEuropeanUnionwhichisanextrafactorinincreasedmarkfilingsfortheIPO.[footnote7].uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html11/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UKAsummaryoftermsusedandthecorrespondingmatchingfrequenciescanbefoundinAppendixD.ThespecificationfieldispopulatedduringtheapplicationprocessbythecustomertodefinetheprotectionsassociatedwiththeirIPright.Thisisdoneeitherbyselectingfromapre-approvedlistoftermsorviaafreetextdescriptionbox.ItisimportanttodifferentiatetrademarksfromothertypesofIPforthecontextofcorrectlyinterpretinganalysis.Atrademarkdoesnothavetheindustrialapplicationrequirementsofapatent,whichaffectshowwemayinterpretourfindings,particularlyforanemergingtechnologysuchasthemetaverse.Forexample,alargecompanycouldspecify100productareasinasingleapplicationtofutureprooftheirbrand,oranewssitecouldspecifyhottopicareasdespitenoproductsinthefield.Thereforetrademarksactivityarguablycouldbeconsideredasaproxyformarketactivity,asopposedtopatentsprovidingameasureofinnovation.Asof30June2023atotalof31,503trademarksapplicationswerematchedtothelistofcoreterms,with27,396matchesontheterm‘virtualreality’,withusageofthistermoriginatingaround20yearsago.Therewerealso831matchesontheterm‘metaverse’whichroughlyalignswithaseparatepieceofanalysisthatevaluatedTradeMarksusingsentenceembeddingsandfoundaclusterofcirca1,100applicationsrelatedtovirtualgoods&NFTs–abroaderandoutofscopefieldforthisanalysis.ThereforeitshouldbenotedthatfullmatchesonourcoretermsdescribesthevirtualrealitylandscapeasawholewhichislikelymuchlargerthantheIPactivityrelatedspecificallytothemetaverse.Figure8showshowthenumberoftrademarkapplicationsrelatingtometaversecoretermshassignificantlyincreasedbetween2001to2022.Thereappearstohavebeenapeakin2019,with4,758trademarkapplicationsrelatingtothemetaversebeingmadeinthisyear.Therewasaslightdeclinein2020to2021,withanotherincreaseinto2022.Overall,thenumberofapplicationsmadein2022(4,045)hasincreasedbyafactorof8comparedwithtenyearsprior(396applicationsin2012).Thesplitbetweengoodsandservicesappearstohavebeenchangingasthenumberofapplicationsincrease,withservicesincreasinginpopularityovertime.In2002,servicesaccountedforjust13%ofmetaverserelatedtrademarkapplications.Thisrisesto31%in2012,andfurtherincreasesto41%in2022.Suchanincreasesuggestsasubstantiallyincreasingpopularityinservice-relatedtrademarksrelatingtothemetaverse.ThismayberelatedtotheVRandmetaversesectorstillbeingrelativelyexpensivetotheconsumer..uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html12/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UKNumberoftrademarkapplicaƟons500045004000350030002500200050002000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022GoodsServicesFigure8:NumberoftrademarkapplicationsperyearwhichmatchedtocoretermsrelatingtotheMetaverse,2001-June2023.Lookingatthetopapplicantsofmetaverse-relatedtrademarkapplicationsintheUK,showninFigure9,itisclearthatarangeofdifferentcompaniesareactiveintrademarkapplicationsinthisarea.SkyLimitedarethetopapplicants,with607metaverse-relatedtrademarkapplications.Huaweiranksecondhighest,with502metaverse-relatedtrademarkapplications.Interestingly,Huaweialsorankeighthformetaverserelatedpatenting,whichsuggeststhiscompanymaybeseekingtobuildametaverse-relatedIPportfolio.CompanyNameGuangdongOppoMobileTelecommunicaƟonsCorp.,Ouƞit7LimitedNumberoftrademarkapplicaƟons0100200.uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html13/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UKFigure9:Topcompaniesbynumberoftrademarkapplicationsrelatingtothemetaverse,2001-June2023.Figure10looksattrademarkswheretheirgoodsandservicesdescriptionsexplicitlyusetheterm‘metaverse’,ratherthanthebroadertermsusedinthetrademarkanalysisthusfar.Thereasoningforthisisthattheterm‘metaverse’isrelativelynew,andhasbeenincreasinginpopularityinrecentyears.Before2021ithadnotbeenusedinaUKtrademarkgoodsandservicesdescription.Between2021toJune2023,‘metaverse’wasused831times.Assuch,lookingspecificallyattrademarksusingthistermcouldyieldsomeinterestingresults.Thischartlooksatmonthlyfilingsusingtheterm‘metaverse’fromOctober2021untilJune2023,inordertobeabletoinvestigatetrendsatamoregranularlevelcomparedtoannuallevels.Fromthischart,itisclearthattherewasasubstantialincreaseinpopularityoftrademarkscontainingtheterm‘metaverse’fromaroundMarchtoJuly2022,withthenumberoftrademarksfiledinJuly2022risingto227%ofthenumberfiledinFebruary2022.Interestingly,servicetrademarksappeartobemorepopularwhenlookingspecificallyattheterm‘metaverse’.Thisdiffersfromwhatisseenwhenincludingtrademarksusingothermetaverse-relatedterms,wheregoodsareconsistentlymorepopular.Thismaybereflectinghow‘metaverse’isarelativelynewlyemergingterm,wheretherearemoreservicesusingtheterm,whilstmoredevelopedtechnologiesaremorelikelytohaveahigherdegreeofproduct-relatedtrademarks.NumberoftrademarkapplicaƟonsOct-21Nov-21Dec-21Jan-22Feb-22Mar-22Apr-22May-22Jun-22Jul-22Aug-22Sep-22Oct-22Nov-22Dec-22Jan-23NumberoftrademarkapplicaƟonsOct-21Nov-21Dec-21Jan-22Feb-22Mar-22Apr-22May-22Jun-22Jul-22Aug-22Sep-22Oct-22Nov-22Dec-22Jan-23Feb-23Mar-23Apr-23May-23Jun-2380400GoodsServices.uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html14/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UKFigure10:Trademarkapplicationscontainingthetermmetaversepermonth,October2021-June2023.Whilstconductingthisanalysis,itwasfoundthattheterm‘virtualreality’wasthemostpopulartermintrademarksrelatedtothemetaverse,where25,510trademarkapplicationswereidentifiedwhichincludedtheterm‘virtualreality.’Assuchanimportanttermwithinthemetaverselexicon,itinvestigatingtrendsrelatingspecificallytotheterm‘virtualreality’mayprovidefurtherinsights.Thisisatermwhichhasbeeninuseoveralongertimeperiodthanthetermmetaverse,andassuchitwasworthanalysinguseofthetermbetween2001andJune2023.ThistrendisshowninFigure11,wherethenumberoftrademarkapplicationsusingtheterm‘virtualreality’isshownperyear.Incombinationwiththis,alineisshowntoindicatetheproportionoftotaltrademarkapplicationsperyearwhichusetheterm‘virtualreality.’Fromthischart,itisclearthattherewasasignificantincreaseintrademarksusingtheterm’virtualreality’from2015to2019,withapplications345%higherin2019comparedto2015.TheproportionofallUKtrademarksincludingtheterm‘virtualreality’hasalsoincreased,risingfrom0.25%in2012toapeakof2.36%in2022.Thisincreasesuggeststrademarkapplicationscontainingtheterm‘virtualreality’areofincreasingimportancetoapplicantsfilingintheUK.ThisuptrendcorroborateswithprojectedindustrygrowthofVR;expectedtonearlydoubleinmarketsizefrom2022to2025.[footnote8].uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html15/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UK45004000350030002500200050000.5%0.0%200020002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019TrademarkapplicaƟonsusingthespecificaƟonterm‘virtualreality’2020202120222023.H1ProporƟonofalltrademarkapplicaƟonsusingthespecificaitonterm'virtualFigure11:Trademarkapplicationsusingthespecificationterm‘virtualreality’,andproportionofalltrademarkapplicationsusingthespecificationterm‘virtualreality’,2000toJune2023.Source:IPOtrademarkdataTherehasbeenasignificantincreaseinbothpatentandtrademarkactivityinrelationtothemetaverseinrecentyears.ThenumberofIPFsrelatingtothemetaverseincreased68%in2018comparedto2013,whilstthenumberoftrademarksfiledintheUKrelatingtothemetaverseincreasedseven-foldbetweenthesameyears.ThisincreaseinIPactivityreflectstheincreasingpopularityofthemetaverse,andmayindicatethatthetechnologyiscontinuingtodevelop..uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html16/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UKLookingspecificallyatpatents,theUSAisthemostpopularinventorlocationforIPFsrelatingtothemetaverse,andalsohasanRSIof0.16.ThissuggeststheUSAisalsospecialisedtosomedegreeintermsofinnovationrelatingtothemetaverse.TheUKisthesixthmostpopularinventorcountryforIPFsrelatingtothemetaverse,andhasanRSIof0.15.WhilstthenumberofmetaverseIPFsinventedintheUK(3,682)isbroadlysimilartootherEuropeancountriessuchasFrance(3,207)andGermany(5,362),theUK’sRSIvalue(0.15)isnotablyhigherthanbothofthese(-0.04forFranceand-0.26forGermany).ThisissuggestingahigherdegreeofspecialismformetaverseIPFsinventedintheUKcomparedtobothFranceandGermany.Intermsofownership,largemultinationalinformationtechnologycompaniesarethemostactiveinthisarea,withQualcommisthetopapplicantforInternationalPatentFamilies(IPFs)relatingtothemetaverse.Somecompanies,suchasLG,havebeenveryactiveinindividualyears,buthaveseenloweractivityinotheryears.Bycontrast,othercompaniessuchasHuaweihavebeensignificantlyincreasingtheirpatentingactivityinrecentyears.Movingtotrademarks,itisnotablethatclassesrelatingtoservicesareincreasinglypopularforUKtrademarkapplicationsrelatingtothemetaverse.Whenlookingspecificallyattrademarksspecificallyusingtheterm‘metaverse’intheirdescription,servicesaremorepopularthangoods.TopownersofUKtrademarkapplicationsrelatingtothemetaversevarymorebyindustrycomparedtothantopmetaversepatentsowners.HuaweiisthetopapplicantofUKtrademarkapplicationsrelatingtothemetaverse,andarealsoveryactiveinfilingforpatentsrelatingtothemetaverse.Useoftheterm‘virtualreality’intrademarkdescriptionshasalsobeenincreasingsignificantly,wherearound2.36%ofallUKtrademarkapplicationsin2022usedtheterm‘virtualreality’.ThisanalysishighlightsthatIPactivityinrelationtothemetaversehasbeenincreasingmostlyinrecentyears,whichisareflectionofthetechnology’sincreasingpopularity.Asanewlyemergingtechnology,itislikelythatIPfilinginthissectorwillcontinuetoincreasesignificantlyinfutureyears..uk/government/publications/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape/an-analysis-of-the-metaverse-ip-landscape-html17/202024/3/1815:30MetaverseIP格局分析(HTML)-GOV.UK(tac=(Metavers*或(metaclose3(vers*或univers))或((((虚拟或增强或混合*或扩展)near3realit)或VR)NEAR5((共享*或联合*或多人*或多人*或在线*或协作*或多个*或许多*或几个*或众多）near3（人*或人*或用户*或人*或个人NEAR5（环境或世界*或周围*或设置*或位置*或场景*或宇宙)))或((沉浸在3数字附近)near5(环境或世界*或环绕*或设置*或位置*或场景*或宇宙))或HMD或耳机或OHMD或PHMD*或VRD或（虚拟*视网膜*显示器）或（视网膜扫描显示器）或RSD或耳机*或（（（头*或头盔*或头骨）near2（安装或佩戴*或连接*或紧固*或固定near4（显示器或屏幕*或监视器*或电视*或电视或（数字近3（双胞胎*或人类*或人或（Tac=（