Dr Michaela MacDonald and Queen Mary colleagues produce report on IP and the Metaverse

The report’s objective is to inform the UKIPO’s vision, policy and, consequentially, any strategies emerging with regards the future design, development and implementation of the Metaverse. It provides an understanding of the potential impact on each of the IP rights within the UKIPO’s remit and contributes to the operation of the Office and its transformation programme. The team behind the report consisted of Dr Gaetano Dimita, Dr Yin Harn Lee (University of Bristol), Dr Michaela MacDonald, Dr Anthony Michael Catton, Zeynep Kubra Kavcar Penbegullu, and Juan Alberto Pulido Lock. 

This report investigates potential intellectual property (IP) issues relating to the development of the Metaverse. It identifies common characteristics underpinning the vision of the Metaverse and focuses on those that have the most notable implications for IP. These characteristics, together with current, potential, and proposed technologies, inform the IP issues and challenges at the centre of this report. It addresses the limited discourse on the impact on IP and the necessity and/or desirability of IP reforms, as the Metaverse continues to encompass all the latest technology trends, spark imagination, and push the boundaries of possibilities.  

The report shows that Metaverse-specific issues and challenges that are anticipated to emerge are connected to the key characteristics and technologies and possible governance models of the Metaverse. These include natural tensions between interoperability, de-centralisation, and convergence of physical and digital and the degree to which these characteristics will be implemented in the Metaverse, and existing IP systems that are based on territoriality and exclusivity. Embracing disruptive technologies, such as AI, in the context of non-human labour and creativity or governance and enforcement, can lead pose risks with regards to a lack of human oversight, circumvention of legislative power and IP rights, undermining constitutional legitimacy and users’ legitimate rights.  

Speaking about the report and its impact, Dr Michaela MacDonald said: “The issues and challenges that have arisen in the context of the Metaverse are, for the most part, not new. In fact, many of them have been present ever since the Internet and related digital technologies came into widespread use. The fact that these remain pertinent issues in the context of the Metaverse provides us with an opportunity to reopen important debates about the role of IP in digital societies, and how the protection and enforcement of IPRs can be done in a way that does not undermine democratic processes or fundamental rights within the Metaverse.” 

The key takeaways from the report are:  

• There is no consensus of what the Metaverse specifically entails and whether and in what form we may experience and access it. It is likely that the concept and its understanding, perception, and implementation will continue to evolve. It is therefore difficult to anticipate any specific IP issues and challenges. However, it is possible to predict that a hybrid model (a series of Metaverses with different level of interconnections) is the most viable, alongside several large technological monopolies, dominating the different geographical and cultural regions. 
• Standards, ethics, and regulation will dominate the discourse going forward. 
• The Metaverse is a complex matrix of IP products and services and is persistent, infinite, and ever evolving. IP will therefore determine how the Metaverse is created, populated, and experienced, how users can migrate between them, and eventually, leave them.  
• While a definitive IP strategy for the Metaverse is yet to emerge, the report's recommendation is that a human-centric design forms a core pillar of any such strategy. 

Read the full report