Korea Ranks 3rd Worldwide in Metaverse Patent Applications

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] South Korea ranks third in the world in the number of patent applications related to the extended virtual world (hereinafter Metaverse).

Last year, visitors at the 'K-Metaverse Festival & Expo 2022' held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, were experiencing the metaverse. Photo is unrelated to the article. Source=Yonhap News

The Metaverse has once again attracted attention following the recent release of "Avatar 2" and the International Consumer Electronics Show "CES 2023."

In particular, the global market size is expected to grow from $148.5 billion (186 trillion KRW) in 2021 to $1.5429 trillion (1,929 trillion KRW) by 2030, intensifying technological competition among countries to secure market share.

According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) on the 5th, Metaverse-related patents filed over the past 10 years with the IP5 (the five advanced patent offices: Korea, the United States, China, Japan, and Europe) have recorded an average annual growth rate of 16.1%.

When dividing this period into two five-year segments, the number of Metaverse-related patent applications increased about threefold from 14,983 cases between 2011 and 2015 to 43,698 cases between 2016 and 2020, indicating intensified competition to secure market share through patent filings.

KIPO analyzes that this is largely due to the increased industrial use of the Metaverse since 2015, driven by the convergence of immersive content and HMDs (head-mounted displays).

In terms of the nationality distribution of Metaverse-related patent applicants over the past 10 years, the United States leads with 17,293 cases (35.9%), followed by China with 14,291 cases (29.7%) and South Korea with 7,808 cases (16.2%). South Korea thus ranks third globally in the number of Metaverse-related patent applications.

Status of metaverse patent applications filed domestically from 2011 to 2020. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

From 2011 to 2020, the global top patent applicants were led by Microsoft with 1,437 cases, followed by IBM with 1,212 cases and Samsung Electronics with 1,173 cases, confirming the significant presence of global information and communication technology (IT) companies.

Among domestic companies, Samsung Electronics (3rd) and LG Electronics (10th) ranked within the top 10 global patent applicants.

By technology field, content accounted for 47.8% of total applications, followed by operating systems at 43.9%, displays at 8.1%, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) at 0.2%.

Notably, since 2018, the content sector has surpassed the operating system technology sector, including platforms like Zepeto and Roblox, in the number of patent applications.

This appears to be due to efforts to secure market leadership through immersive content technologies applied not only in gaming and movies but also in manufacturing, finance, and education, as operating systems for building virtual worlds have become established.

Lee Sang-ho, an examiner at the Household Goods Examination Division of KIPO, stated, "As Metaverse-related products and services become integrated into everyday life, we can see that technological development in this field is becoming more active. KIPO will strive to analyze and provide patent information needed by the industry so that domestic companies can secure patent competitiveness and lead the market in the Metaverse sector."