Companies based in the U.S. and South Korea have filed for more than 75% of patent applications related to the metaverse, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) since 2016, according to Nikkei Asia.
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Fast facts
- U.S.-based companies that were among the world’s top 20 metaverse patent applicants were responsible for 57% of the 7,760 applications filed since 2016, according to a joint survey by Nikkei Asia and research firm Cyber Creative Institute.
- South Korean firms in the top 20 list came second with 19%, Chinese firms came third with 12%, followed by Japanese firms at 8%.
- The survey assessed roughly 20 patent categories in Japan, the U.S., Europe and other markets related to the metaverse, VR and AR.
- South Korean multinational LG Electronics applied for the most metaverse patents since 2016, followed by its local rival, Samsung Electronics.
- Both Samsung and LG incorporated non-fungible token (NFT) trading functions into their line of smart TVs earlier this year.
- U.S.-based tech titans, Meta, Microsoft, Intel and Apple, also made the top 20 metaverse patent applicants list, along with China’s Huawei and Japan’s Sony.
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