In 2019, the Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights (the Observatory), created the Impact of Technology Expert Group to support the various activities of the Observatory in the field of emerging and disruptive technologies. The expert group currently consists of around 30 tech savvy and curious experts in IP protection and enforcement. The expert group has significantly enhanced the capacity of the Observatory and through three previous publications significantly enhanced the understanding of the impact of a number of important emerging technologies on infringement and enforcement of intellectual property (IP). This report is the 3rd study carried out by the expert group, and the 2nd deep dive into a specific field of technology, namely the Metaverse and its many variations of virtual, mixed, and augmented reality.
This study and the aim to highlight the overarching concepts of how the Metaverse and related technologies may be misused to facilitate IP infringement and IP crime and suggest where techniques and strategies traditionally used to enforce IP needs to adapt and evolve to cope with the challenges of the Metaverse. The deep dive report also contributes to the Observatory’s efforts to support the European Multi-disciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats (EMPACT), in which IP crime is a dedicated priority.
Main findings
- The Metaverse, a virtual reality-based interconnected digital space, has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact, conduct business, and experience the digital world.
IP is at the centre of this transformative landscape, presenting both opportunities and challenges. - The Metaverse’s development is however dependent upon the transition to Web 3.0 as well as the advancements of user interface technologies.
- The study indicates that there are four distinct future states or alternatives categorised by the degree of convergence of technologies, business models and user adaptation.
In this report the Metaverse was deconstructed to six layers, namely: physical, digital, virtual, social, economic and IP related. - The potential weaknesses and vulnerabilities of a Metaverse ecosystem will allow the manifestation of illicit activity targeting three categories of assets, namely infrastructure, user information, and virtual property.
The report includes an overall scenario on how IP infringements and IP crime can take place in the different Metaverse futures. This scenario informs the growing need for development of digital forensic and electronic discovery tools to enable enforcement and investigations across the Metaverse.
How was the study conducted?
The research conducted for this study was primarily desk-based driven, enriched when necessary, by interviewing experts and through the attendance of workshops. Due to the topical nature of the subject, all relevant types of literature were consulted. The research approach employed in this study was qualitative, recognising the interdisciplinary nature of the Metaverse as a socio-technical system. To address this complexity, the methodology incorporated research practices from both social sciences and requirements engineering in the field of computer science.