On the first day of ABPI’s 42nd International Congress, experts discussed the legal issues, benefits, and care that brands should take to establish their entry into the metaverse. The first speaker of the panel was Dean Megan Carpenter, of the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law. “Important implications are emerging, such as changing notions of basic creation for artists. Artificial Intelligence allows the creation of content by non-human artists. And these creations will also be the subject of Intellectual Property study,” she said.
Megan also spoke of new opportunities for business-to-business deals that traditionally wouldn’t happen in the real world. “This is the case of the partnership between the luxury brand Balenciaga and the game Fortnite, developed by Epic Games”. Another example cited by Megan is that of MTV, which recently created the new category of Best Performance in the metaverse for the next editions of the MTV Awards.
In the opinion of Dan Jasnow, an executive at ArentFox Schiff, there is a lot of technology in development that allows interaction with the metaverse. “It’s not about separating reality, but interacting with the virtual and physical world. These are technologies that enable developers to create solutions”.
One of the examples mentioned was the Decentraland platform, which hosted the 2022 Fashion Week, bringing together more than 30 luxury brands, such as Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger, Forever 21, and Paco Rabanne, in a virtual neighborhood. “Consumers could access the space and make purchases in virtual stores, even with cryptocurrencies. A fully immersive experience. A world that offers new sources of revenue, controlled by the brands in it”.
The expert warned about what appears to be a new Gold Rush. “Brands need to have legal control of several topics such as royalty structure, interoperability, and Intellectual Property. Besides, being proactive is essential. Companies must anticipate with registration applications, for example”.
For Fernanda Magalhães, partner of Kasznar Leonardos and moderator of the panel, the faster we foresee the legal issues that may arise, the better for expert lawyers, who will be able to tell clients if they are solid enough to access the metaverse.
If you registered for the event, you can review this panel at any time on the Congress website.
