Metaverse – A Challenge To The Copyright Law

INTRODUCTION

“Everything that you can imagine is real”. These words by Pablo Picasso can be said to have gained reality with the recent development of a ‘virtual word’ parallel to our own real world- the Metaverse. The term “Metaverse” has gained popularity recently and is often being referred to as the ‘second internet. The idea of Neil Stephenson in his novel ‘Snow Crash’ in 1992, could be said to be the first inception of the idea of the “virtual world” where people interact with each other digitally through avatars. Many technological companies tried to create the same virtual world and bring the same level of inclusivity as stated in ‘Snow Crash’. However, none could reach to the full visualisation.

Metaverse Copyright[Image Source:freepic]

Metaverse mainly started capturing people’s minds when Facebook changed its name to ‘meta’ and declared its acknowledgement of the upcoming ‘metaverse’. Metaverse can be said to be a more inclusive and 3d version of the internet with more activities included alongside gaming and entertainment. Metaverse has seen immense financial growth by including digital currencies like cryptocurrencies and the Non -Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Several techno- giants like Apple and Microsoft have shown interest in this concept.

Copyright, as we all are aware, is one of the Intellectual Property (IP) rights that offers protection to the works of the original authors, like literary work (which nowadays also includes computer programs and databases which are written with specific codes or schemes), dramatic, musical, artistic work, cinematographic films and sound recordings. The virtual world will also require laws and IP rights for its smooth functioning and exploitation-free domain.

Metaverse and copyright

Metaverse is still in its infancy stage and is expected to be completed soon. The complexities like the use of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), cryptocurrencies, blockchain and so on might challenge the present copyright law. Metaverse will function with the help of computer programs and software that might have copyright protection.
Moreover, metaverse will also have avatars and NFTs that are also copyrightable if they are original work. Many companies are introducing their copyrighted work in the metaverse. Therefore, it becomes necessary to understand the applicability of this right in the virtual world. Upon analysing the kind of platform metaverse is going to evolve into, it clearly indicates that there will be a lot of scope for the issuance of copyright which will give rise to the possibility of copyright infringement. The question that arises is whether the copyright licence granted on these works was for the real world, and now will such a licence provide protection in the virtual world too?

Metaverse is of two types- one where people can add new features on their own on the provided platform and the other where no new additions can be done. If a copyright-protected work is created inside this metaverse and the same is being reproduced by the third party to any place outside the metaverse will be considered to be infringing the copyright. And in a similar situation, usage of a copyrighted work from the outside world without the permission of the author will also lead to copyright infringement.

Plausible Challenges

The main functioning of the metaverse will depend on the computer software, which is a work of copyright, and many companies are seeing it as a marketing hype platform for huge investments in the form of cryptocurrencies and NFTs. These technological companies will put in their best-copyrighted works in the forms of codes and software to provide an almost real experience to the users because of the profits anticipated. The more the insertion of software, the more will be its possibility of it being copied or reproduced, thereby leading to infringement.

However, the major issue that copyright infringement is likely to face is the detection of the infringer’s identity. People are present in the form of avatars and blockchain technology protects the identity of these people. Moreover, the presence of AI will be needed for the identification of these people. But the biggest obstacle would be the enforceability of the infringement laws due to cross border metaverse, which includes people from various countries. It would become difficult to understand the applicability of law, the appropriate authorities and their jurisdiction.

NFTs

Non-fungible tokens which trade with the digital assets by applying a token value to them could be another issue under the copyright law because the NFTs can be traded the underlying asset still lies under the ownership of another author. If copyright is provided for original work to the author, it must be different from the ownership of any digital object in the metaverse. It must be noted that if any copyrighted work is being produced or used in the form of NFT it would mean a reproduction of the work and therefore would require the prior consent of the copyright owner to avoid infringement. Therefore, it can be seen that NFTs provide a platform for both protecting copyrights as well as their infringement. The only visible solution, in this case, is the NFT agreement, wherein terms safeguarding the rights of authors are mentioned.

CONCLUSION

Metaverse is still developing, and hence no one can predict its growth and the kind of challenges the entire legal system might face with its complete formation. The development will have to be kept in coherence with the law by the lawmakers for the smooth functioning of the metaverse as it is expected to be an escape for humankind from reality. The inclusion and huge investments being made by the various companies even when it is in its development stage clearly indicates that it would soon evolve to become a part of human life just like the internet.

Metaverse provides huge prospects for intellectual property (IP) rights along with the challenges. The present copyright law is consistent with the present issues that are anticipated to arise within the metaverse. However, the major issue that the entire set of laws might face due to worldwide accessibility in the metaverse is the universal applicability of the laws and the need for appropriate authorities in matters of disputes or IP rights infringements.

Author: Anand Shukla, A Student of National Law University, Odisha,  in case of any queries please contact/write back to us via email to chhavi@khuranaandkhurana.com or at IIPRD.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

twenty + 1 =

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • September 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010