Metaverse is an inevitable evolution of the internet where billions of people will invest their reality. As India has a massive young population, it is a potential booming market for virtual reality, or what is commonly called as the metaverse.

It is a blend of augmented and virtual reality, enabling social connections, and interactions.

Trademarking, a new product provides exclusive rights and prohibits others from its usage. It is evitable to safeguard a company’s trademark. With increasing competition, trademark infringement is an impeding risk on companies. Indian businesses are getting set to join the metaverse, even though some Fortune 500 companies, like Nike, have already submitted their patent applications. Among the companies getting ready to join the metaverse are Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, and Reliance Industries Ltd.

The blog will explain the reach of trademarks in India's metaverse as well as the expanding difficulties facing trademark protection.

In Metaverse, there are multiple allegations of infringement of trademark,It concept is widely discussed:-

[Image Sources: Shutterstock]

Intellectual Property and Metaverse : (Anmol Bahuguna,2022) Companies that have effectively trademarked their products and services in the "real world" ought to speculate about doing the same in the "metaverse." It is plausible that stopping trademark theft will be more difficult than it would be in the physical world due to the difficulties that right holders face when trying to defend their copyrights in the metaverse.

The Intellectual Property Rights in the Metaverse : (Ashish Deshmukh,2022) .ǁǁMetaverse is essentially a blessing for enterprises that own trademarks because it delivers an idyllic setting for inexpensively promoting and selling trademarks.

All About Trademarks in Metaverse : IP in the Virtual World ( Amruta Shivshankar Bondre , Priyanka Nimje) .ǁǁ When a virtual product name in the Metaverse is trademarked, the proprietor is granted monopolistic rights to it and is forbidden from using a name that is identical to or close to it. As a consequence, the use of trademarks in the Metaverse brings up just emerging legal concerns, such as how to protect a company's rights there. For instance, the Metaverse has been used to promote films like Radhe Shyam and KGF in the industry of film. Like this, well-known FMCG companies like McCain Foods and TATA Tea have planned events in the Metaverse.

Conclusion

There is a lack of intensive research on this area as technologies keep on emerging, there is less data on the applications, benefits, and potential drawbacks of the concept. This blog fills the knowledge and awareness gap in the field of trademarks in the metaverse and discuss about the challenges and applicability of trademark in such an arena.

There should be a detailed legislation for the companies so that they can have a balanced legal right. It should also have its virtual counterpart covered by the trademark protection. Contracts that are enforced online should also apply to this situation. The Information Technology Act of 2000, Section 10A, company has option to register a multi-class brand that applies to both its goods and services in the metaverse. They can exercise their rights in the metaverse if it is expanded to include Class 42as permitted in Nandini Deluxe v. Karnataka Co-Operative Milk Producers Federation Ltd. . Also, it will reduce pointless litigation and spare both the Court and the parties involved some time.

The possibility of trademark infringement by other businesses should be considered first by those who create the metaverse. The "Terms of Service" must provide brand protection. Furthermore, it could ask for the maintenance, appraisal, and enforcement of intellectual property. Indian courts in the case of Tata sons v. Greenpeace International stated before deciding infringement by a company, the communicative or commercial intent should be analysed thoroughly.

Author : GUNGUN JAIN, in case of any query, contact us at Global Patent Filing or write back us via email at support@globalpatentfiling.com.

References

Books

Ahuja V.K. Law relation to Intellectual Property Rights in India, 2017

Statutes

Section 10A of the Information Technology Act of 2000

Cases

Tata sons v. Greenpeace International I.A. No.9089/2010

Articles

1.) Intellectual Property and Metaverse. (2022). International Journal of Science and Research, 11(9 September 2022), SR22905165231. https://doi.org/10.21275/SR22905165231

2.) Chaudhri, S. (2022) Trademarks and The Metaverse: Recent Trends in India. Sujata Chaudhri. Available at: https://www.mondaq.com/india/trademark/1228966/trade-marks-and-the-metaverse-recent-trends-in-india (Accessed: September 9, 2022).

3.) Bondre, A.S. and Nimje, P. (2023) All About Trademarks in Metaverse: IP in the Virtual World. Edited by P. Upadhyaya, R. Raj, and R. Chhabra. Amruta Bondre, Priyanka Nimje . Available at: https://sagaciousresearch.com/blog/all-about-trademarks-in-metaverse-ip-in-the-virtual-world/#:~:text=Trademarking%20a%20virtual%20product%20name,a%20company's%20trademarks%20in%20Metaverse (Accessed: March 25, 2023).

4.) Sakhee (2022) Protecting Trademarks in Metaverse: Is Trademark Regime Ready for Internet 2.0? Legal Services India. Available at: https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-8472-protecting-trademarks-in-metaverse-is-trademark-regime-ready-for-internet-2-0-.html (Accessed: March 10, 2022).

5.) Aparajita Lath, Trademarks and the Metaverse: Imaginary Rights or Real Wrongs? SPICY IP, (last visited Aug 29, 2022, 11.14 am), https://spicyip.com/2022/05/trademarks-and-the-metaverse-imaginary-rights-or-real-wrongs.html.

6.) Chaudhri, S. (2022) Trademarks and the metaverse: Recent trends in India - trademark - India, TradeMark and The Metaverse: Recent Trends In India - Trademark - India. Sujata Chaudhri IP Attorneys. Available at: https://www.mondaq.com/india/trademark/1228966/trade-marks-and-the-metaverse-recent-trends-in-india (Accessed: March 16, 2023).

Other Authorities

SCC Online

Manupatra

JStor