Relevance: GS-3: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.

Key Phrases: Metaverse, Issues of ownership, Intellectual property law, Virtual spaces, Advanced blockchain, Virtual work and learning spaces, Virtual businesses and markets, Social media platforms.

Context:

• The very concept of the Metaverse raises a variety of questions on the interplay between existing legal frameworks and issues of ownership, transfer of value, protection of rights, and infringement on the Metaverse.
• Of these, intellectual property issues are particularly relevant since the Metaverse encompasses a range of technologies, literary and artistic works, designs, logos, symbols, and imagery, most of which have historically been protected under intellectual property law regimes.
• In the US, well-known brands such as McDonalds, Nike, Walmart, Crocs, and Skechers, as well as unknown and independent applicants have been making a beeline to register trademarks for their Metaverse offerings. Some of these brands have also been exploring the use of NFTs or non-fungible tokens to assert their intellectual property rights.

Some cases of Intellectual Property Rights issues with Metaverse:

• The recent lawsuit involving filmmaker Quentin Tarantino’s proposed public auction of an NFT of the screenplay of Pulp Fiction, which was challenged by Miramax on grounds of infringement of trademark and copyright, laid bare the problem of applying traditional intellectual property laws to new technologies.
• One question that frequently comes up in discussions of the Metaverse is around who owns the right to create and commercially exploit virtual digital assets. There is growing consensus among intellectual property lawyers across the globe that, in the absence of contractual mechanisms to convey copyright, a mere purchase of an NFT does not entitle a buyer to copyright.
• The administrators of the estate of the Indian artist, MF Husain, challenged the right of TamarindArt LLC, the buyer of Husain’s painting called ‘Lightning’, to proceed with a project involving the sale of NFTs based on the artwork.
• TamarindArt holds the exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to reproduce the artwork in any format including digital formats but the estate administrators issued a cease-and-desist notice to TamarindArt arguing that the latter was not the ‘copyright owner’ and had no right to reproduce the artwork, distribute copies, create derivative works based on it or display it publicly.
• Even as courts grapple with questions of how archaic intellectual property laws can be applied to protect intangible property on the Metaverse, there is no dearth of players in the market innovating at the edges of this fast-evolving paradigm.

What are the applications of the Metaverse?

• Advanced blockchain use cases
  • With Metaverse, companies can design more exciting and realistic NFT marketplaces where users can interact with other users, look at desired NFTs, and make better buying decisions. Because Metaverse offers a shared realm of virtual space, it has been promoting new NFT or blockchain games in which players can acquire in-game collectibles and trade them with other participants. Blockchain-based game developers use the Metaverse to develop these next-gen online games.
• Virtual work and learning spaces
  • The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled worldwide businesses to adopt digital modes of communication. Video conferencing platforms have also become much more popular for remote work, online classes, and other work-from-home arrangements. These platforms fail to provide a compelling, engaging experience because of real-time audio and video interaction.
  • Metaverse provides users with a more engaging experience to address this limitation through its graphically rich virtual environment, 3-D avatars, and immersive meetings. Instead of seeing the participants on a computer screen and communicating through microphones, the Metaverse allows us to navigate a virtual environment with lifelike participants’ avatars.
• Virtual businesses and markets
  • Technology creates new opportunities for businesses, helping them promote their services and offerings effectively. With the increasing implementation of the Metaverse, enterprises are coming out of the two-dimensional surface of e-commerce and adopting lifelike virtualized spaces for a profound experience.
  • E-commerce business owners can interact with merchants in a virtual space and perform trading formalities such as product inspection, negotiations, and finalizing deals. Plus, they can better influence customers using interactive and realistic marketing content rather than relying on digital marketing tactics.
• Expansion of social media platforms
  • Mark Zuckerberg and the minds behind Meta platforms understand that technology can do much more apart from connecting people through social media. Their idea of embracing the Metaverse is to introduce a three-dimensional space that is not limited to watching people on computers or mobile screens and listening to their voices.
  • A platform based on Metaverse provides a more immersive experience for social media users by enticing a feeling of presence among them. Combining virtual reality and augmented reality enables a more realistic digital experience beyond the present social media universe’s abilities.

Way Forward:

• While the Metaverse is opening new and exciting avenues for artists, creators, brands and consumers of new technology, the problem of how to protect intangible property on the Metaverse continues to loom large.
• The key to solving this problem lies in recognising that while existing frameworks to protect intellectual property rely heavily on centralised authority involving regulators and courts, the Metaverse is based on a vision of a decentralised internet with a preference for distributed consensus mechanisms.

Source:  The Hindu BL

Mains Question:

Q. What is the Metaverse? What are the application areas of Metaverse? What are the Intellectual Property Rights issues with Metaverse? Critically Examine.