[International IP Briefing] US, WIPO

 

 

US

U.S. X Corp. Settles Trademark Lawsuit Over the Letter ‘X’

 On September 15, 2025, Reuters reported that U.S.-based X Corp., the parent company of the former Twitter, reached a settlement in a trademark infringement lawsuit with X Social Media, a Florida-based legal marketing firm.

In October 2022, U.S. entrepreneur Elon Musk acquired the social media platform Twitter and rebranded it as “X” in July 2023.

On July 24, 2023, Reuters reported that several companies, including Meta and Microsoft, already held intellectual property rights to the letter “X,” and that the widespread use of “X” as a trademark could raise multiple legal issues under trademark law.

(History)

 In October 2023, X Social Media filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against X Corp. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The company claimed that Twitter’s rebranding to “X” created consumer confusion with its own “X” trademark, resulting in revenue losses. It sought both an injunction to stop the use of the “X” name and monetary damages.

X Social Media, which has operated as a mass-tort client recruitment advertising agency since 2016, had been using “X” as a trademark and had previously run ads on Facebook to attract potential clients. X Corp. countered that the letter “X” had long been used by many companies and therefore did not constitute trademark infringement.

In July 2024, the Florida federal court sided with X Social Media’s claim that its “X” trademark had attained “incontestable” status, meeting statutory requirements and therefore shielding the registration itself from further challenge. The court allowed the infringement claim to proceed.

(Settlement)

On September 15, 2025, X Corp. and X Social Media jointly submitted a settlement agreement to the Florida federal court, requesting dismissal of the case with prejudice. Neither party disclosed the specific terms of the settlement.

(Related Development)

On February 20, 2025, X Corp. also resolved a similar “X” trademark lawsuit brought by the U.S. advertising company Multiply through settlement.

 

< Source of the post >

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WIPO

WIPO Releases 2025 Ranking of the World’s Top 100 Innovation Clusters

On September 1, 2025, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced the Top 100 Innovation Clusters Worldwide 2025, ahead of the release of the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025.

(Overview)

An innovation cluster refers to a city or region that drives innovation, serving as a key engine of a nation’s innovation ecosystem.

(Highlights)

The 2025 ranking of the Top 100 Innovation Clusters was based on analysis of:

1.      Patent filing activity under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT),

2.      Scientific publication activity, and

3.      Venture capital (VC) activity, newly introduced in 2025.

This methodology identifies geographic areas with the highest density of inventors, scientific authors, and venture capitalists worldwide.

gettyimagesbank.com

Top 5 Innovation Clusters

Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou (China/Hong Kong) ranked first, Tokyo–Yokohama (Japan) ranked second, San Jose–San Francisco (United States) ranked 3^rd, Beijing (China) ranked 4^th, and Seoul (Republic of Korea) ranked 5^th. Combined, Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou and Tokyo–Yokohama account for about 1/5 of all PCT filings worldwide.

Top 5 for Intensive Innovation Activity

When measured relative to population density, the clusters with the most intensive innovation activity are:

Among the Top 100 innovation clusters, the clusters showing the most intensive innovation activity relative to population density were San Jose–San Francisco (United States) in 1^st place, Cambridge (United Kingdom) in 2^nd, Boston–Cambridge (United States) in 3^rd, Ningde (China) in 4^th, and Oxford (United Kingdom) in 5^th.

Top 5 Countries

The countries with the largest number of innovation clusters in the Top 100 are:

The countries with the largest number of innovation clusters in the Top 100 were China with 24 clusters in 1^st place, the United States with 22 clusters in 2^nd, Germany with 7 clusters in 3^rd, India with 4 clusters in 4^th, and the United Kingdom with 4 clusters in 5^th, with China ranking first for the second consecutive year.

<Top 10 Innovation Clusters, 2025>

< Source of the post >

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Patent Review, Faster & Smarter - Meet the Highlighter

When reviewing countless patent documents, the biggest challenge is grasping the essence quickly. The Highlighter feature brings important keywords to the forefront, allowing you to instantly locate the information you need. Even in complex technical documents, you can zero in on the essentials, dramatically improving review efficiency.

Why the Highlighter Feature is Essential in Patent Review

Quickly Identify the Core in Massive Documents

Patent documents can stretch over dozens or even hundreds of pages, often filled with highly technical language. The Highlighter feature makes critical keywords stand out, so you don’t need to read every line to grasp the main ideas. This leads directly to shorter review times and greater productivity.

Improve Review Accuracy & Avoid Missing Key Details

The greatest risk in patent review is overlooking important terms or claims. By consistently highlighting designated keywords throughout the document, the Highlighter helps eliminate blind spots. Grouping similar keywords under the same color also makes it easy to recognize conceptually related ideas at a glance.

Flexibility for Different Use Cases

Whether conducting prior art searches, competitor analysis, patent mapping, or licensing review, the focus keywords vary by task. The Highlighter adapts seamlessly with options like repositioning the input panel, toggling highlight colors ON/OFF, and syncing across different viewers and pages. This ensures you can customize the tool to your exact workflow, focusing only on the parts that matter most.

Tangible Efficiency Gains in Practice

The benefit goes far beyond faster reading. Because key points are already marked, report writing and team collaboration become much smoother, with less rework and fewer communication gaps. Ultimately, the Highlighter translates into time and cost savings, along with higher-quality, more reliable deliverables.

Customized Highlighting

With the WIPS Global’s Highlighter, you can group up to 10 keywords and highlight them in the same color, making it easy to distinguish terms that share similar meanings or purposes. Beyond simple word highlighting, this feature creates a tailored analysis environment. With options such as moving the input box, toggling highlight colors ON/OFF, and automatic syncing across multiple viewers, the Highlighter adapts to the way you work.

wipsglobal.com> View Details

Up to 50 highlighter colors can be designated.

wipsglobal.com> View Details

You can switch between horizontal and vertical modes, and freely adjust the window size.

wipsglobal.com> View Details

You can also move the highlighter to any desired location for convenient document review.

wipsglobal.com> View Details

You can enter up to 10 keywords in a single field and highlight them in the same color.

wipsglobal.com> Highlighter

Core keywords by technology can be saved as a set, allowing you to easily load them whenever needed.

wipsglobal.com> My Folder

The highlighter feature is automatically linked with various features such as Detailed View, Easy Viewer, and My Folder, allowing you to review saved keyword sets across all supported features.

<Features where the Highlighter is applied>

A New Standard for Patent Review

So far, we’ve looked into the upgraded ‘Highlighter’ of the WIPS Global. The Highlighter isn’t just an accessory — it’s a transformative feature that redefines the patent review process. By simplifying complex data, saving time, and enabling you to focus only on what truly matters, it turns document review from a tedious task into the starting point for clear, actionable insights.

Hidden Patent Technologies in OTT Streaming

 

 Most people today subscribe to at least one OTT service. In fact, while TV viewing time continues to decline, the amount of time spent watching OTT services has steadily increased, reflecting a significant change in content consumption. According to one survey, 8 out of 10 people use OTT services, which shows that streaming has become a natural part of our daily lives.

gettyimagesbank.com

 Recently, many movies and series are released first—or even exclusively—on OTT platforms rather than on TV or in theaters. The main reasons OTT platforms have become the center of interaction between content consumers and providers include the ability to access high-quality content anywhere and the convenience of personalized recommendations tailored to individual preferences.

 But did you know that these convenient OTT services are actually “bundles of patents,” built upon countless patented technologies? Netflix, one of the most iconic OTT brands, is known as a “patent giant,” having filed around 2,000 patents worldwide. Today, let’s look at the patents that power OTT streaming and uncover the hidden technologies behind it.

“This is how everyone makes trailers these days.”

 Many OTT platforms now actively use trailers made from parts of the actual show when launching new content. In the past, making a trailer required people to manually find and edit specific scenes from the main program, which was a highly burdensome and inefficient process.

Netflix 'Trigger' official trailer
(source: Netflix official YouTube)

 Given the nature of OTT platforms, which must supply dozens or even hundreds of new titles each year, Netflix needed to streamline this process. They solved the problem by using machine learning algorithms and automation.

 They created a formula for trailer production, trained it through machine learning, and developed a system that automatically selects the most effective scenes from uploaded content to generate a trailer.

wipsglobal.com> Drawing editor
US12374372, 'Automatic trailer detection in multimedia content'

 The algorithm works by extracting and analyzing video shots, scoring their relative similarity, and then stitching the key shots into a trailer. By having machines do the work, Netflix drastically reduced the time and effort required, allowing resources to be used far more efficiently.

 In an era where OTT platforms churn out content at breakneck speed, automated trailer generation has become a powerful tool—both for meeting the constant demand for new content and for gaining a competitive edge.

“We read your mind with big data from your watch history.”

 At one point, the comment “YouTube Algorithm brought me here” became a viral meme. It humorously implied, “I don’t know why this video was recommended, but it’s fun, so okay.”

 

YouTube recommendation algorithm meme
(source: Reddit-r/PewdiepieSubmissions)

 YouTube gained a reputation for recommending strange but entertaining videos, and people turned its algorithm into a running joke. But behind these “mysterious recommendations” is Google’s carefully engineered system that identifies hidden preferences even users themselves didn’t realize they had.

 The key lies in a 2013 Google patent: “Video Recommendation Based on Co-Viewing Statistics”—a core technology behind today’s YouTube algorithm.

wipsglobal.com > AI summary
US 8868481, 'Video recommendation based on video co-occurrence statistics'

 The system analyzes the relationship between videos being watched and those on the recommendation list, while factoring in user behavior (such as which videos were clicked and how long they were watched) to create optimized recommendations.

wipsglobal.com
US 8868481, 'Video recommendation based on video co-occurrence statistics'

 So, even the strangest recommendations are not random—they are based on subtle connections to previously watched content or inferred preferences from viewing patterns with the assumption that I might like them. What once felt like bizarre coincidences turn out to be deliberate results of YouTube’s powerful data analysis.

“Hello, I’m Cinema-Grade Audio. I saved OTT!”

Dolby Laboratories, well-known for its video and audio codecs, has long set industry standards—so much so that its formats are treated like a “Bible” in the film industry.

Dolby Atmos logo
(source: Dolby)

 Among its flagship technologies is Dolby Atmos, an object-based surround sound system designed to deliver immersive audio. It enhances traditional surround sound by linking on-screen objects to exact sound positions in theaters.

Example of Dolby Atmos system application
(source: Dolby Professional)

 However, Atmos originally required installing numerous speakers around the entire 360° environment, with acoustic reflections taken into account—making it practical only for select large cinemas. Implementing it on PCs, smartphones, or home theaters seemed virtually impossible.

wipsglobal.com
EP 3434023, 'Near-Field rendering of immersive audio content in portable computers and devices'

 However, Dolby managed to virtualize this technology so that the Dolby Atmos experience could be reproduced even on everyday electronic devices with ordinary stereo speakers. As a result, Atmos technology has become widely adopted, and much of this success can be attributed to a patent Dolby filed in 2016.

 That patent is titled “Near-Field rendering of immersive audio content in portable computers and devices” (commonly referred to as Near-Field). This technology makes it possible to virtually reproduce Dolby Atmos through stereo speakers even without a full surround sound setup. In other words, by adjusting sound frequencies and levels, it creates a three-dimensional “virtual surround” effect using just stereo speakers.

 Thanks to this technology, users can now enjoy immersive sound even on smartphones and PCs, and today’s leading OTT platforms have also reaped its benefits. In order to enhance the quality of their content offerings, OTT services have actively adopted Dolby Atmos at the platform level. As a result, this innovation has dramatically reduced the gap in immersion between OTT and traditional media, ultimately becoming a groundbreaking technology that reshaped the entire market.

How far will OTT evolve as integrated content platforms?

2025 International Streaming Festival Poster
(source: Official Festival website)

 We’ve explored some of the key patented technologies behind OTT streaming. OTT services are rapidly expanding beyond movies and dramas into sports, e-sports, and more, dramatically reshaping how we consume content. With the upcoming International Streaming Festival drawing major public interest, OTT’s value will only continue to rise. No longer just video platforms, OTT services are becoming comprehensive content hubs. It will be exciting to see what new technologies they integrate next in their ongoing transformation.