The
technology related to data transmission has been continuously advanced. Thanks
to this, exchanging large amounts of data has come to be gradually possible.
Especially these days, attention is focused on real-time transmission and
streaming. Because HD (High-definition) videos are played smoothly without prior downloading. Even the COVID-19 has
opened the Untact (means uncontact, newly coined word in COVID-19 times) era, which has attracted more attention from related
companies. This is because the stock price of streaming contents service
companies such as Netflix is rising, despite the global economic
crisis. So how many patents have been filed for streaming technology?
In this
IP Story, we will look into the trend of streaming-related patents filed in the
United States and Korea in the last 10 years(1).
1. Application status by year and country
Streaming-related patents filed in Korea and the U.S. for 10 years from 2010 were approx. 12,700, of which 77% were filed in the U.S. Looking at the current status of filings by year, it increased rapidly in the early 2010s and has maintained a similar level since the middle of 2010s. On the other hand, in Korea, it has been decreasing since 2012, but reversed since 2016. Considering the recent explosive growth of the streaming contents market, patent activity is unlikely to contract significantly in the future.
 |
| Application status by year |
2. Application status by applicant
Looking at the status of each applicant, IBM in US ranked first followed by Samsung Electronics and Google. Most of the top applications are from traditional electronic / communication companies. Google and Amazon, which took third and eleventh place, respectively run popular streaming contents services. Google has YouTube with an average monthly usage of 1.9 billion users, and Amazon also provides streaming services with Amazon Prime.
 |
| Application status by applicant |
Next,
let's check the change by period. Comparing the number of applications in two
sections (2010-2013, 2014-2017) excluding unpublished sections, the number
of applications in 2014-2017 by IBM, Google, AT&T, and Amazon increased
by more than 20% in comparing to 2010-2013. The surprising thing is that the
number of IBM applications has almost doubled comparing to the previous section.
IBM, which has been developing data processing and communication-related
technologies for a long time, operates streaming video platforms and hosting
services, and patents for cloud computing-related technologies are also very
active. In 2019 alone, it acquired more than 2,500 patents in the U.S.(3) Meanwhile, AT&T launched its streaming TV service ‘AT&T TV’ in March.
AT&T started a premium streaming service business that can be used on
multi-platform based on TV. It seems that their new business gave the impact to
the patent activity.
 |
| Changes of number of application by period (two sections 2010-2013 and 2014-2017) |
Looking at the top applicants by country;
In the U.S., there were many
applications such as IBM, Google, and Microsoft, and in Korea, Samsung
Electronics, SK Planet, and Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research
Institute took the top ranks. Since the share of U.S. applications is high as 77% among worldwide, the U.S. ranking is quite similar to the overall ranking. However, Microsoft's ranking shows a difference that they're somewhat higher (3rd) in the U.S. comparing to the overall ranking.
In Korea, Samsung Electronics, SK
Planet, and Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute have
been listed on top 3. SK Planet, a solution provider related to information and
communication, has a cloud streaming solution. In 2016, they formed a video
streaming patent association with 10 global companies.(2)
 |
| Each applicant by country |
For
the top 100 companies (below chart 🔻), electronic/communication-related companies have the
largest application (64%), and platform/OTT service companies and Internet/communication-related
companies (approx.10%) is following. The proportion of schools and research
institutes was also 6%.
 |
| Industries of the higher ranked applicants among the top 100 |
When looking at the trends by year, in fact, electronics/communications companies
increased rapidly in early 2010 and then turned to a decreasing trend, whereas
applications of platform/OTT companies showed an overall increasing trend.
Internet/communication companies are also on the rise. As the streaming
contents market grows in the future, it may show a dynamic trend.
 |
| Industrial trend by year |
3.
Applicant's nationality
The applicant's nationality, the share of domestic applicants is basically
overwhelming. Other than that, applications in Japan, China and Sweden are
high. Among them, Sweden stands out a little because the influence of the
patents of traditional telecommunications company Ericsson and the world-class
music streaming service SPOTIFY is very high. Given that Spotify is preparing
to enter Korean market, their patent activity in Korea may become more active
in the future.
 |
| Applicant's nationality |
4.
Patent Family/Citation status
The patent family status; It was found that all patents have
patent family, and it’s 53% of patents have family more than 2 countries. 4% of patents have family more than 10 countries. Most of the top
applicants are electronic/communication companies such as Qualcomm, Intel,
Sony, Apple and Microsoft. On the other hand, you may feel unfamiliar on Dish
Network. Dish Network is an American satellite broadcasting and has the
‘Sling TV’ providing IPTV service.
 |
| Patent family coverage of the applicants |
The citation status; 56% of patents have been cited, and there are about
1,800 patents which have been cited in more than 10 patent documents. Looking
more details of those 1,800 patents, applicants are traditional
electronic/communication companies such as IBM, Qualcomm, Microsoft, and
Ericsson are in the top. Tivo, one of the top applicants, we may be somewhat
unfamiliar, Tivo is manufacturing the digital video recorder
(DVR) in America. Tivo’s performance was good in the set-top box era, but in the 2010s,
earnings deteriorated due to the growth of OTT services such as Netflix and
Hulu.
 |
| Cited patents status |
Streaming
is applied not only to videos such as movies or dramas, but also to games and
shopping. In addition, various software and solutions are provided on a cloud
basis, and the field of application is continuously
expanding. How will it make different in a few years? I am looking
forward to how far it’ll move forward.
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Footnote
(1) Streaming technology is a combination of data compression and transmission
& playback. This trend analysis focused on transmission and playback
technologies, not compression.
(2) SK Planet formed video streaming patent association with 10 global companies
(3) IBM acquired 9200 patents last year… "No. 1 for 27 consecutive years"
