An Analysis of the Metaverse IP Landscape

Abstract

The metaverse is a rapidly emerging sector with little specific regulation. For this project, we use the metaverse to describe a shared online virtual space. This report provides an overview of the IP landscape of the metaverse. It specifically looks at both patent and trade mark trends in this sector. Relevant patents were identified using a combination of keywords and classifications. Relevant trade marks were identified through free text analysis of goods and services descriptions.

The key findings of this report include:

- globally, there was a sharp increase in patenting relating to the metaverse from 2015 to 2018
- using Relative Specialisation Index, the UK shows a degree of specialism in this sector compared to some other nations
- the number of trade mark applications with a virtual reality related word or phrase in the description field increased five-fold from 2014 to 2018
- around 2.36% of UK trade mark applications in 2022 included the specification term ‘virtual reality’