Sony licenses PlayStation VR design patent to Lenovo
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has struck a two-year licensing deal with Lenovo that allows the technology company to use a design patent covering the PlayStation VR (PS VR) headset.
Lenovo will use the IP for its own virtual reality (VR) headset, the Mirage Solo, according to an announcement made yesterday, October 30.
Lenovo’s product can be used to watch “that game-winning shot as if you're right there in the front row”, or to “live-stream your wedding in 3D, so everyone can be part of it”, according to Lenovo’s website.
Released in October 2016, the PS VR allows players to immerse themselves in a VR gaming universe.
Riley Russell, chief legal officer at SIE, said the industrial design for the PS VR resulted from years of hard work by PS engineers, so the agreement “is a testament to the quality of PS VR’s design, as well as SIE’s commitment to creating great virtual reality experiences and helping the VR industry expand”.
Yao Li, vice president of Lenovo Consumer Tablets and Smart Devices Product and Business Management, added that the deal will allow the companies to work together to “greatly enhance the design sophistication and appeal of the rapidly expanding VR field”.
According to Statista, the global VR consumer software and hardware market is expected to be worth $19 billion by 2021.
The licensing deal is just the latest IP development in the VR industry—earlier this month, electronics company HTC was taken to court for allegedly infringing five patents owned by a company called Motiva Patents, as WIPR reported.
To learn more about IP licensing at Lenovo, click here to read an interview with the company’s vice president of litigation and IP, Ira Blumberg, conducted by WIPR earlier this year.
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