virtual reality (vr) ip assets ommercialization viability … whitepaper … · ·...
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Copyright © 2012, INDUS TechInnovations, All rights reserved.
Virtual Reality (VR) IP Assets - Commercialization Viability Analysis 2
Objective This report assesses the viability for commercialization of Intellectual Property (IP) assets related to
Virtual Reality (VR) technology, which involves computer-simulated worlds to stipulate the sense of
reality. It often includes stereoscopic displays to mimic our natural visual sensory input. Other simulated
sensory feedback, such as haptic or audio feedback, also form part of VR technology. VR technology has
been around for many decades, but its potential was not realized until computer graphics matured and
computing capacity became adequate and affordable. Today, VR is extensively used in gaming,
entertainment, training and education. VR also has many important medical applications.
This analysis encompasses the overall landscape of Virtual Reality IP assets in terms of the major patent
holders and recorded transactions. Assignees with VR patent assets with medical or gaming applications
are identified. A list of potential licensees or buyers of VR-related IP assets is arrived at.
Workflow 1. Determine the major patent asset holders in the area of Virtual Reality technologies.
2. Identify relevant transactions (assignment transfers) in the area of Virtual Reality technologies.
3. Obtain the forward citations of patents related to the relevant technology and determine the
patent asset holders of the more recently filed forward-cited patents.
4. Determine the patent asset holders of VR IP assets with medical and gaming applications.
5. Combine the findings from the above steps to create a short-list of potential licensees or buyers
in VR technologies.
Analysis The analysis contained in this report is done for VR technology in general. There are many sub-
technologies involved in this domain, such as stereoscopic displays, haptic devices, tracking
systems, and computer algorithms.
Patent assets related to Virtual Reality are identified using a combination of keywords, IPC
codes, and US classification codes to obtain the top patent asset holders in the technology area.
A search of the assignment database is performed using similar parameters. This yields a list of
the various buyers and sellers of patent assets addressing this technology and helps in
determining the most active amongst them.
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Virtual Reality (VR) IP Assets - Commercialization Viability Analysis 3
Assignees for recently filed forward-cited patents in VR technologies are determined.
Assignees with VR patent assets with applications in either assisting medical or surgical
procedures; or addressing gaming are separately identified.
The analysis of this report is based on the patent assets of various geographies, assignment
transfer data provided by the USPTO, and related corporate information available in the public
domain. All patent counts mentioned are only indicative.
Patent Filings in Virtual Reality Technology The charts below show the filing trends for patents in Virtual Reality technology. Figure 1 shows the top
patent holders in VR technology and Figure 2 shows the overall filing trends and the top patent asset
holders from 1993 onwards. The list of top patent asset holders changes somewhat if we look at recent
patent filings (from 2009 onwards). The recent filing trend (starting 2009 onwards) is shown in Figure 3.
IBM, Canon, Sony; followed by Philips, Samsung and Microsoft are the key patent holders overall. Most
of these assignees reappear in the list of top recent filers as well (2009 onwards). Other companies that
have filed patents in this technology in recent times include Osterhout Group, Nintendo, Disney, Intuitive
Surgical and Pantech.
Figure 1. Top Patent Holders of Virtual Reality IP assets with indicative patent counts
Copyright © 2012, INDUS TechInnovations, All rights reserved.
Virtual Reality (VR) IP Assets - Commercialization Viability Analysis 4
Figure 2. Assignee trends by filing year (from 1993 onwards)
Figure 3. Assignee trends by filing year (from 2009 onwards)
Figure 4. Filing trends of the technology
IBM
CANON
SONY
PHILIPS
SAMSUNG
MICROSOFT CORP
OSTERHOUT GROUP INC
NINTENDO CO LTD
SHARP
PANASONIC
ALCATEL LUCENT
SIEMENS
IMMERSION CORP
DISNEY
KOREA ELECTRONICS TELECOMM
0
102
204
1 1 5 21 3 4 1 2 3 1 3 2556
318 3 2
6 2 4 7 9 3 9 6 3 10 11 14 18 16 14 9 1 7
4 2 5 11 9 14 14 4 16 3 3 6 3 2 1 2 9 12 18 6
3 5 21 17 12 4 5 9 2 7 7 12 1 1 5 2 1
2 1 1 5 2 5 3 14 19 332
1 1 2 1 2 3 1 3 4 4 6 6 3 12 11 5 3
30 311 2 1 1 5
393
5 5 7 8 8 1 4 1 3 1 3 2
3 2 5 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 3 6 1 2 8 2
3 2 2 10 4 1 1 2 2 3 8 1
1 16 7 1 1 4 1 1 2 1
1 2 2 3 3 4 2 2 3 2 2 3 4 1 1
3 4 1 1 1 6 9 5 1
1 1 1 1 1 3 4 3 2 4 3 5 1
Assig
nee
No
. o
f P
ate
nts
Filing Date
SAMSUNG
OSTERHOUT GROUP INC
NINTENDO CO LTD
SONY
IBM
MICROSOFT CORP
CANON
DISNEY
INTUITIVE SURGICAL INC
QUALCOMM INC
PANTECH CO LTD
KOREA ELECTRONICS TELECOMM
0
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f P
ate
nts
Filing Year
Pri
ori
ty y
ear
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Virtual Reality (VR) IP Assets - Commercialization Viability Analysis 5
Transactions in Virtual Reality Technology Patents Table 1 is a compiles a list of the top companies that acquired patent assets (execution date from 1993
onwards) after analyzing the transactions (assignment transfers) in the area of Virtual Reality technology.
Assignee count
GEOMAGIC, INC. 16
AVAYA INC. 14
IMMERSION CORP 13
CANON 11
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 11
SUN MICROSYSTEMS 9
KAPERNELLY ASSETS AG, LLC 8
NASA 7
NIH 7
BONANZA TECHNOLOGIES LLC 6
NANT HOLDINGS IP, LLC 5
INTELLECTUAL VENTURES HOLDING LLC 4
LIGHTSPACE TECHNOLOGIES AB 4
CAE HEALTHCARE INC. 3
CARESTREAM HEALTH INC. 3
GC NORTH ACQUISITION, LLC 3
GOOGLE 3
INDIGO TECHNOLOGIES, LLC 3
KWOK, CHU & SHINDLER LLC 3
ROXIO INC. 3
TEXTRON INNOVATIONS INC. 3
TRANSPACIFIC IMAGE, LLC 3
Table 1. Top New Assignees (Buyers) of Virtual Reality patents showing transaction count
The seller (Assignor) and buyer (Assignee) matrix shown in Figure 5 is created using assignment transfer
data for patent assets addressing Virtual Reality technology. Some of the sellers of patent assets include
Sensable Technologies, Nortel, Virtual Technologies and Mixed Realty Systems Lab. Buyers of these
patent assets include Geomagic, Avaya, Immersion Corp and Canon. Government organizations like the
National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Health (NIH) and NASA have funded research at
various U.S. Universities in this technology area. This is indicated by patent assignment transfers from
the Universities to these organizations. The Universities may however still continue to enjoy IP rights to
the research as under the Bayh-Dole Act.
Copyright © 2012, INDUS TechInnovations, All rights reserved.
Virtual Reality (VR) IP Assets - Commercialization Viability Analysis 6
Figure 5. Top Assignee and Assignor matrix showing transaction counts
Figure 6 shows the trend plot for the total number of transactions in the area of Virtual Reality
technology by execution year. There has been a marked increase in the number of transactions
beginning in the 2005-2007 period. The upward trend in the number of transactions continues till 2012.
Figure 6. Transaction trend based on Execution Year
Figure 7 shows the top buyers of patent assets in this technology area by the execution year of
assignment transfer.
GEOMAGIC, INC.
AVAYA INC
IMMERSION CORP
NSF
CANON KK
SUN MICROSYSTEMS INC
KAPERNELLY ASSETS AG
NIH
NASA
BONANZA TECHNOLOGIES LLC
NANT HOLDINGS IP, LLC
LIGHTSPACE TECHNOLOGIES AB
INTELLECTUAL VENTURES HOLDING LLC
OTHER ASSIGNEES
0
81
162
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1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
NO
. OF
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NS
EXECUTION YEAR
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Virtual Reality (VR) IP Assets - Commercialization Viability Analysis 7
Sun Microsystems emerges as one of the early buyers of IP assets in this technology, acquiring patents
from VPL Newco Inc. in 1997. Other early buyers of patents include Immersion Corp which purchased
patents from Virtual Technologies in 2000 and 2002; and Canon which acquired patent assets from
Mixed Reality Systems in 2003.
Recent acquirers have included Avaya Inc. in 2009, Kapernelly Systems in 2008, and NANT Holdings in
2011. The most recent recorded transactions in 2012 have been Geomagic acquiring assets from
Sensable Technologies and Bonanza Technologies acquiring assets from Southwest Research Institute.
Figure 7. Transaction trends of Top Assignees based on Execution Year
Citation Analysis The overall patent assets related to Virtual Reality technology are initially obtained and their forward
citations are identified. The filing date of the documents in the forward citation set is then restricted to
Jan 2009 or later, to obtain a list of assignees who have recently cited VR patent assets. This list is shown
in Table 2.
Recent citations by these companies indicate that they are working on, and have recently filed patents
addressing, VR technologies and could well be potential licensees or interested buyers for similar
patents.
Within the set of Virtual Reality patents, we have picked a couple of applications for closer study. These
are the application of VR in (i) Assisting medical or surgical procedures, and (ii) Gaming. Some of these
recently filed forward citations have been manually scanned to verify that the inventions disclosed
GEOMAGIC, INC.
AVAYA INC
IMMERSION CORP
NSF
CANON KK
SUN MICROSYSTEMS INC
KAPERNELLY ASSETS AG
NIH
NASA
BONANZA TECHNOLOGIES LLC
NANT HOLDINGS IP, LLC
LIGHTSPACE TECHNOLOGIES AB
INTELLECTUAL VENTURES HOLDING LLC
OTHER ASSIGNEES
0
11.5
23
19
93
19
94
19
95
19
96
19
97
19
98
19
99
20
00
20
01
20
02
20
03
20
04
20
05
20
06
20
07
20
08
20
09
20
10
20
11
20
12
161
133
10
1 1 1 1 1 3 2 1
11
9
81 2 2 1 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
6
5
4
2 2
1 1 2 2 15
126 8 5
1320
6
20
10 13 1623
15
AS
SIG
NE
E(B
UY
ER
)
NO
. O
FT
RA
NS
AC
TIO
NS
EXECUTION YEAR
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Virtual Reality (VR) IP Assets - Commercialization Viability Analysis 8
address one of these two applications. Assignees holding VR patent assets that address either or both
the abovementioned technologies have been highlighted in Table 2.
ASSIGNEE COUNT
SILVERBROOK RES PTY LTD 8
MICROSOFT 8
SAMSUNG 4
LG 4
PHILIPS 3
HONEYWELL INT 3
MWI VETERINARY SUPPLY CO 3
DIGITALOPTICS CORP 3
IBM 3
YOOSTAR ENTERTAINMENT GROUP 2
PANASONIC 2
RESEARCH IN MOTION LTD 2
AT&T 2
INVENSENSE INC. 2
VEDERI, LLC 2
Table 2. Assignees with recent filings citing patents related to Virtual Reality (filing date from Jan 2009)
[Highlighted assignees hold VR patents with Medical or Gaming applications]
Virtual Reality in Medical applications and Gaming Table 3 provides a list of VR patent holders having assets with applications in assisting medical or surgical
procedures. The top patent holders in this sub-technology include Intuitive Surgical Inc., Siemens,
Bracco Imaging; followed by Immersion Corp and Kapernelly Assets AG.
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Virtual Reality (VR) IP Assets - Commercialization Viability Analysis 9
Patent Holder Count
INTUITIVE SURGICAL INC. 17
SIEMENS 12
BRACCO IMAGING SPA 11
IMMERSION CORP 10
KAPERNELLY ASSETS AG, LLC 8
VIRTUAL PROTEINS B V 4
CAE INC. 3
GENERAL ELECTRIC 3
IMPERIAL INNOVATIONS LIMITED 3
UNIV ALABAMA 3
UNIV MONASH 3
UNIV TEXAS TECH 3
US NASA 3
Table 3. List of VR patent holders addressing medical applications
Table 4 provides a list of the VR patent holders having assets with applications in gaming. The top patent
holders of VR technology patents addressing this sub-technology include Nintendo Co Ltd., Sony,
Microsoft followed by Konami Corp and Namco Ltd.
Patent Holder Count
NINTENDO CO LTD 20
SONY 17
MICROSOFT CORP 12
KONAMI CORP 8
NAMCO LTD 8
EDGE 3 TECHNOLOGIES INC. 5
IBM 5
MOTION GAMES LLC 5
ATLANTIS CYBERSPACE INC. 4
GAMECASTER INC. 4
KICO SOUND LLC 4
NANT HOLDINGS IP, LLC 4
PHILIPS 4
SEARETE LLC 4
VIRTUAL PROTEINS B V 4
Table 4. List of VR patent holders addressing gaming applications
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Virtual Reality (VR) IP Assets - Commercialization Viability Analysis 10
Potential Licensees or Buyers We synthesize our findings from each of the preceding analyses to arrive at a list of potential licensees or
buyers for Virtual Reality patent assets. These potential licensees or buyers are enumerated in Table 5
along with the rationale for including them in the list.
Potential Licensee or
Buyer Rationale Reference
IMMERSION CORP
One of the top patent asset holders Figure 1, Figure 2
Acquired patents in VR technology Table 1, Figure 5, Figure 7
Holds VR patents with medical applications Table 3
IBM
One of the top patent asset holders with recent filings Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3
Citation analysis indicates current development of similar technologies
Table 2
Holds VR patents with gaming applications Table 4
MICROSOFT
One of the top patent asset holders with recent filings Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3
Citation analysis indicates current development of similar technologies
Table 2
Holds VR patents with gaming applications Table 4
PHILIPS
One of the top patent asset holders Figure 1, Figure 2
Citation analysis indicates current development of similar technologies
Table 2
Holds VR patents with gaming applications Table 4
SIEMENS One of the top patent asset holders with recent filings Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3
Holds VR patents with medical applications Table 3
INTUITIVE SURGICAL INC.
One of the top patent asset holders with recent filings Figure 3
Holds VR patents with medical applications Table 3
KAPERNELLY ASSETS AG,
LLC
Acquired patents in VR technology Table 1, Figure 5, Figure 7
Holds VR patents with medical applications Table 3
CAE INC. Acquired patents in VR technology Table 1, Figure 5, Figure 7
Holds VR patents with medical applications Table 3
NINTENDO CO LTD
One of the top patent asset holders with recent filings Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3
Holds VR patents with gaming applications Table 4
Table 5. List of Potential Licensees or Buyers for VR patent assets
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Virtual Reality (VR) IP Assets - Commercialization Viability Analysis 11
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