IP Licensing and the Metaverse: Practical Considerations and Key Provisions for Agreements

Description

The metaverse is shared interactive and collaborative virtual 3D worlds. People can work and play in the metaverse. For example, a person can work, attending virtual meetings. They can participate in live events, such as concerts, and purchase merchandise with cryptocurrency. After buying the merchandise, they can wear or use it and then lend it to a friend in the metaverse. This example requires assets to be compatible and transferable in the metaverse.

Licenses are typically granted based on territory, whether regional, national, or global. Does a global license include the metaverse? Do carveouts need to be created to fit the metaverse? Or, are separate licenses required? Licenses are also often limited to a particular service, device, or use. Because of the nature of the metaverse, licensees need to have more flexibility to facilitate development and interaction. A licensee will need the grant of rights to be broad enough to adapt to the evolving environment of the metaverse without repeatedly needing to amend the license.

Licensing includes a certain level of unavoidable risk in both the physical world and the metaverse, but licensors can anticipate and evaluate the risks and reduce the likelihood of problems.

Listen as our authoritative panel of IP attorneys examines licensing IP and the metaverse. The panel will discuss the practical considerations and key provisions of the licensing agreement for the physical world and the metaverse contracts. The panel will address the rights granted, territory, usage tracking, and compensation, among other issues. The panel will also examine metaverse implications for physical world contracts and mitigating risks with licensing.