Suddenly, in its nascent form, the idea of the metaverse is causing the legal commu- nity to re-think, again, many of the same issues that it had to address in the late 1990s and early 2000s, on how the interactive and decentralized version of the Internet will affect daily lives. [...] How Does Trademark Use in the Metaverse Differ from Trademark Use in the Physical World? The issues raised in the last section beg the question of how trademark use in the metaverse may differ in fact from traditional trademark use. [...] Consumer recognition and relation of the goods and services emulated in the metaverse to those manifested in the physical world will ultimately have to form a material element of the legal concept of virtual “use.” The challenge, of course, is that the relationship will vary depending on the nature of the good or service, the industry, the target con- sumers, and other factors. [...] By way of example, the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) issued by the USPTO includes a section with a series of webpage screenshots and mock-ups used to highlight acceptable and unacceptable specimens of use in the context of the Internet.23 One could imagine the USPTO adding a new section to the TMEP with a similar series of demonstrative virtual and augmented environments to guide. [...] Brand owners will have to be mindful and consider whether the adaptation of their marks from the physical world or the “2D environment” of the Internet satisfies, e.g., the “substantially exact 31 INTA | TRADEMARKS IN THE METAVERSE representation” standard applied by the USPTO or the “distinctive character” standard applied by the EUIPO for European Union Trademarks (EUTM).
- Pages
- 61
- Published in
- United States of America
