Article by Vijay Pal Dalmia, Advocate, Supreme Court of India and Delhi High Court, Partner & Head of Intellectual Property Laws Division, Vaish Associates Advocates, India

Pre-covid, thinking for a metaverse could have been considered out of the box but nowadays where meetings, convocations, functions, classrooms, and other activities have gone online, reaching out for Metaverse can be considered a more intricate, technically complex, but seemingly fair advancement. It was not an instant development; rather, its evolution can be traced to two to three decades back. With the execution of Liquidation, Privatisation, and Globalisation, India during the 1990's witnessed development in the realm of digitalization, and the arrival of the digital age brought in different perspectives. Meanwhile, in the year 1992, Neal Stephenson, in the Science fiction "Snow Crash" visualized what virtual reality, the next thing in line to the internet, would look like in the near future and, while writing about it, tossed the term Metaverse. 1 The term Metaverse consists of the prefix Meta, which means 'beyond', and suffix verse which means 'universe.' The Metaverse is a hypothesized iteration of the internet, supporting persistent online 3-D virtual environments through conventional personal computing, as well as virtual and augmented reality headsets. 2 It is an alternate world to the real world and a dream for many students, gamers, technicians, Fashionistas and various other professionals. Metaverse has been in conversations, especially after the lockdown enforced by the governments worldwide. People already have witnessed Ariana Grande performing live on Fortnite3 or buying Virtual Gucci for the Roblox Avatars, 4 which takes them a step closer to this concept.

The arrival of a new era requires updated regulations to control the misuse of the latest technologies. Metaverse is an alternative digital space whose creation requires the consumption of personal data for rendering services, a large number of sensors, and an absurd amount of software which will further lead to further complexities. With proper regulations and guidelines, Metaverse and the digital world can be put to great use, but lack of regulation at the same time can be the heart of the problem. Proper regulation for the facial data, body language, biometric data, searches, or other personal data is essential to protect the users from data breaches and fill the lacuna in the regulatory laws. If the data is not protected then the companies may grab the data and use it to deliver targeted ads and increase profits through effective ad delivery. On the other hand, social media apps may use the data to reshape our thoughts to trigger our emotions, and in this way, they can control our thought processes.

This article tries to examine what India must prepare for its technological and regulatory advancements to ensure the development of new virtual environments as Metaverse. While examining the situation and the much-needed laws, this article shall inspect and investigate the material facts and the implication of the Metaverse and further gazing out the current Indian laws governing the Metaverse and, at last, would conclude with a few suggestions.

2. Metaverse and the Legal System

There are various instances where this concept has been taken to the next level. Games' working on Fortnite, Microsoft working on Minecraft, Facebook working on Horizon, or be it Live Maps or Magic leap, every time the work has left the world astonished. As for the consumer brands, the 'next big thing 'deciding how brands will interact with customers is the Metaverse. In the Metaverse, everything will be virtual and imaginary, including the brands and branded products. The ultimate Metaverse would be a series of interoperable worlds.

The three pillars or the main aspects of Metaverse are first presence, second interoperability, and lastly, standardization. 5 Presence here means a sense of embodiment or one's presence with others in a virtual world, and interoperability means seamlessly and effortlessly traveling in the digital space and among the virtual objects. Interoperability isn't a new concept rather, nowadays, it is common since we see avatars being used in Zoom meetings or virtual goods such as cryptocurrencies. Standardization, the final pillar, is the enabling of interoperability of platforms and services across the Metaverse.

For example, Roblox was launched in 2006 but is way ahead of its time. It is mostly like a virtual platform where users by way of creating their own game can virtually earn real money through the exchange of virtual currencies called Robux. It is now more than just a game and a significant development in the realm of Metaverse. The main step was Nike announcing its partnership and opening a virtual store called 'Nikeland'6 in Roblox or announcement of NFL (National Footbal League) Store7 in the virtual space of Roblox. In 2003, Linden Lab, launched Second Life, which allowed its users to create an avatar which can do almost anything that a person does in the real world. People in Second Life can interact with each other virtually, express themselves through music and art, attend concerts, organize meetings and even open embassy. Maldives was the first country which opened a virtual embassy in Second Life.8

To view full article click here

Footnotes

1 This 29 year old book predicted Metaverse, Tom Huddleston Jr., Success, CNBC, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/03/how-the-1992-sci-fi-novel-snow-crash-predicted-facebooks-metaverse.html

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse

3 Ariana Grande performs live on Fortnite, Shannon Liao, The Washington Post, August 06, 2021, 06:31pm, https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/08/06/ariana-grande-performs-concert-fortnite/

4 https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyhackl/2021/06/01/metaverse-weekly-virtual-gucci-pursues-digital-people-direct-to-avatar-ecosytem-nerf-nfts-and-beyond/?sh=7b3697a72c9b

5 What is the Metaverse? Rabindra Ratan, Yiming Lei, Science and Technology, Down to Earth, https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/science-and-technology/what-is-the-metaverse-2-media-and-information-experts-explain-79993

6 https://www.roblox.com/games/7462526249/NIKELAND

7 NFL enters Roblox Officially through its virtual Store, Sportsmedia, 29 November, 2021, https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/nfl-roblox-melon-metaverse-nft/

8 Maldives Opens Virtual Embassy, Hindustan Times, 23 May, 2007, https://www.hindustantimes.com/world/maldives-opens-virtual-embassy/story-ywfNCEGWBvQNYrEpI72DiP.html

© 2020, Vaish Associates Advocates,
All rights reserved
Advocates, 1st & 11th Floors, Mohan Dev Building 13, Tolstoy Marg New Delhi-110001 (India).

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist professional advice should be sought about your specific circumstances. The views expressed in this article are solely of the authors of this article.