Intellectual property rights and the metaverse: An Indian perspective

Abstract In the age of the fourth industrial revolution, the metaverse is creating new waves in the world of internet technology and is promising to provide even better and more immersive ways to interact with other people. Metaverse will further lead to the intertwining of the physical and virtual lives. It will create a virtual environment that allows users to interact in virtual spaces and allow the selling and purchasing of virtual goods. These transformations will pose new challenges and risks for the users, players, and owners of the metaverse platforms. This would require the regulators and policymakers to look closely at the issues such as intellectual property rights (IPRs). The main objective of this study is to research the opportunities and challenges that the metaverse will present for IPRs and to examine the IPRs issues related to the metaverse in the Indian context.