Protection of Intellectual Property (IP) in the Metaverse
With the Metaverse and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) being the common
buzzwords as of late, the USPTO (US Patent & Trademark Office) has been
experiencing a significant rise in the number of Trademark Applications filed in
the virtual sphere to safeguard the products and services.
The dramatic rise in e-commerce in the last two decades saw many brand and
business owners struggling to safeguard their Intellectual Property (IP) assets in
cyberspace, starting from domain names and then going onto social media
handles. At present, with the immense growth of interconnectivity, along with
digital experiences creating augmented reality and virtual reality, many digital
marketers and technology experts have given the term ‘Metaverse’ to these new
spheres of human interaction. To put it straightforwardly, the Metaverse refers to
an immersive digital space in which users interact with different people and
things by using digital avatars. This new sphere or market provides offers and is
very much likely to expand upon the new ways for multiple industries and sectors
to increase scalability, including new business opportunities and ways of
promoting products and services at an even faster pace. NFTs may refer to the
digital goods or specific pieces sold in the Metaverse. However, NFTs, in general,
refer to the data stored on a blockchain for authenticating and keeping track of
the digital property. These are non-fungible, implying that they are unique and
can never be replaced by something. Therefore, an NFT can refer to a digital art
piece or can be linked to a physical product for proving the authenticity or
ownership of the said product.
These latest developments in the digital economy have an important feature of
interoperability, which means that consumers can conveniently move virtual
items like cars or clothes from one platform to some other. When we talk about
the real world, a consumer can buy a sports team jersey online or at some