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Dr Michaela MacDonald
Lecturer, The School of Electronic Engineering and Computer
Science
Queen Mary University of London
Interactive
Entertainment
Law 5
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Introduction
• Metaverse can be seen as a continuation of a trend where physical
and digital worlds becoming indistinguishable
• A digital world with substantially similar features to those of the
physical world
• IP will play a crucial role in the creation and experience of the
Metaverse
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Definitions and Types
= beyond the universe
• ‘A massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D
virtual worlds that can be experienced synchronously and persistently by
an effectively unlimited number of users with an individual sense of
presence, and with continuity of data, such as identity, history,
entitlements, objects, communications, and payments.’ (Matthew Ball)
• Competing visions of the Metaverse:
• Private metaverse, like Meta or Sandbox
• Open metaverse, like Odyssey, based on open-source standards
• Web 3 developers, such as Decentraland, based on Blockchain and cryptocurrency
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• Imagine the Metaverse as a seamless
convergence of physical and digital
aspects of our lives, including:
• Purchasing outfits and accessories for
online avatars
• Buying digital land and constructing
virtual homes
• Participating in a virtual social experience
• Shopping in virtual malls via immersive
commerce
• Using virtual classrooms to experience
immersive learning
• Buying digital art, collectibles and assets
(NFTs)
• Interacting with digital humans for
onboarding employees, customer service,
sales and other business interactions
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Characteristics and Features
• Scaling – ability to increase the size of the Metaverse
• Persistence – unlocking technical limitations to improve the immersiveness of the Metaverse
• Interoperability – the merging of different virtual worlds and systems
• Decentralisation / centralisation – distributing or concentrating control over data, content,
online identity
• Economy – allowing for trading across the Metaverse
• Identity – evolving current online identities / avatars for a stronger connection to the user
• Convergence of digital and physical – spanning across many aspects of life
• Multiple contributors – content from all sorts of stakeholders from individuals to commercial
organisations
• The concept of Metaverse is underpinned by IP – it will be used more, the risk of
infringement and need for enforcement will increase as well
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Making the Metaverse
• A range of technologies including virtual reality (VR) (a threedimensional
online environment that can be entered by using a
dedicated headset connected to a computer or game console), and
augmented reality (AR) (shows the real world enhanced by computergenerated
items, such as graphics), and mixed reality (XR)
• VR – a computer-generated environment with scenes and objects that appear
to be real
• AR – the real-time use of information in the form of text, graphics, audio and
other virtual enhancements integrated with real-world objects
• XR – a blend of physical and digital worlds, unlocking natural and intuitive 3D
human, computer, and environmental interactions
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Metaverse and Copyright
• Copyright law protects expressions of original works, such as literary, audiovisual works or
computer programs, by granting the rightsholder exclusive rights, including the right to copy or
distribute the work
• Metaverse offers new opportunities for users and content creators (user-centred virtual
economy), as well as businesses (infrastructure, digital products and services, brand extensions,
new sources of revenue)
• It also represents new types and levels of infringement risks
• For example, a potential liability of Metaverse providers as online content-sharing providers, for sharing
infringing content (Article 17 Digital Copyright Directive)
• Infringement risks will be addressed mainly through a matrix of license agreements and technical
processes to prevent others from reproducing, communicating or modifying existing creations
• Issues relating to applicable law and jurisdiction (copyright is territorial, the Metaverse is without
borders), anonymity/pseudonymity of infringing parties, enforcement strategies will become
more complex, but lessons can be learned from similar discourse with regards to copyright and
the Internet
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Metaverse and Patents
• Patents provide incentives for innovation by granting a legal monopoly that
prevent others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing
infringing products in the country where the patent was granted
• Patents will be mainly sought for the underlying technology rather than
anything within the Metaverse itself – the building blocks, hardware and
software
• For example, immersive technologies implementing virtual reality (VR), augmented
reality (AR) and mixed reality (XR)
• The risk of broad patents being detrimental to innovation
• To foster further innovation, licensing and standards will be crucial –
patents that are essential to the implementation of a standard is known as
‘standard essential patents’ (SEPs)
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Metaverse and Trade Marks
• A trade mark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one
enterprise from those of another enterprise
• TMs in the Metaverse may include company’s name and logos, distinctive sounds,
shapes or colours, and an increased use of multimedia marks
• Metaverse offers new opportunities for companies to expand their business and
engage directly with consumers, at a lower cost
• It also creates a challenge in
• determining the scope of protection (registering a mark for goods and services both in the
real and digital environments),
• extending trade mark protection for physical goods to cover their digital counterparts (a case
of luxury brands with an established reputation and goodwill), and
• territoriality (trade marks are valid in the jurisdiction where they are registered, while the
Metaverse is borderless)
• The case of MetaBirkins – Hermès sued an artist for creating digital versions of their Birkin
handbag, as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), without their permission
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Metaverse-specific Issues
• While there is no clear consensus on a technologically neutral
definition of the Metaverse, there are common characteristics
emerging that will have the most notable implications for IP. These
characteristics, together with current, potential, and proposed
technologies, inform future IP issues and challenges
• These characteristics are
• Interoperability
• (De)centralisation
• Convergence of digital and physical
• Multiple contributors
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Interoperability
• Interoperability – translates to the freedom and ease with which data,
information, digital assets, and user identity will be able to move through
the Metaverse
• There is no actual consensus on how interoperable the Metaverse will be in
order to fulfil its potential, nor which specific technology will underscore
that interoperability
• Interoperability can be considered with regards to
• infrastructure (community-based standards and protocols),
• content (technical attributes ensuring that content will display in the same away
across different ecosystems and platforms), and
• licensing (license agreements need to be drafted in a way to facilitate the
interoperability and transfer of IP rights)
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(De)Centralisation
• There are three potential models the Metaverse can adopt (decentralised,
centralised and hybrid)
• The core question is the extent to which the Metaverse will be or needs to be
decentralised to fulfil its potential (similar to interoperability; these two
characteristics are connected)
• A decentralised platform is built mostly upon community-based standards and protocols (like
the open web) and an ‘open source’ metaverse operating system or platform
• A hybrid model represents a series of Metaverses with different levels of interconnections
• This is the most viable model, with a number of large technological monopolies, dominating
the different geographical and cultural regions
• The concept of a decentralised Metaverse challenges the IP legal regime, because
the scope of protection and enforcement of IPRs in digital environments is
currently predicated on the existence of centralised platforms
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Convergence of Digital and Physical
• The Metaverse may fully bridge the physical ‘real world’ and the ‘digital’ world,
becoming a ubiquitous and large-scale virtualisation
• The eventual form which this convergence will take is still uncertain, but there are
several technologies that can be identified, which potentially form the underlying
architecture for the anticipated Metaverse
• Physical to digital
• Virtual reality (VR)
• Digital twins
• Digital to physical
• Augmented reality and augmented space (AR)
• Extended reality (XR)
• Smart objects / smart environments / “everyware”
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Multiple Contributors
• The Metaverse will be the product of multiple contributors, and its
development and expansion will be significantly underscored by a
vast number of users
• It will be populated by ‘content’ and ‘experiences’ created and
operated by an incredibly wide range of contributors, some of whom
are independent individuals, while others might be informally
organized groups or commercially focused enterprises (Mathew Ball)
• Roblox as a proto-Metaverse
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Key Points
• Any successful IP strategy must take into consideration the full scale of different
representations of the Metaverse (e.g., decentralised or centralised) and related
technologies, and focus on the various IP implications
• Common elements and characteristics of the Metaverse with the most profound
impact on IP are:
• Interoperability can exist on multiple levels – interoperability of the underlying technological
standards, IP, and licences – and is likely to push the boundaries of IP protection
• The extent of decentralisation / centralisation will have a direct impact on IP rights and
enforcement
• Convergence of physical and digital that will further challenge the increasingly artificial
distinction between spaces, interactions, and implications for IP within physical and digital
environments
• The complexity of the ecosystem, with multiple contributors, focus on user-generated
content, and multi-layered licensing framework will create further pressure for the IP system
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In-class Exercise
• A digital music service provider (Spotify) is promoting and hosting a
live-streamed concert by TNT on a global games console platform
(Sony PlayStation) during the interval of an eSports tournament being
held and promoted by a leading games publisher (Electronic Arts)
working alongside a famous brand (Gucci). The brand is providing
digital as well as physical merchandise to fans – they can purchase
original non-fungible tokens (NFTs), exchange them for a VIP
personalised experience or physical fashion items.
• Consider all the different commercial entities and their assets
appearing in this scenario. Outline a possible intellectual property (IP)
strategy for protecting these assets. Identify the different assets and
appropriate intellectual property rights attached to them.
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Thank you for your attention!
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