Intersection of intellectual property laws regarding the use of "practical products" in the Metaverse

Abstract

In the world of the Metaverse, there is a problem under what conditions the designs of industrial products can be protected by intellectual property laws. By utilizing AI in the production of UGC, a large number of designs for a wide variety of industrial products will be reflected in some form in the final product, so it is necessary to clear intellectual property rights related to industrial products. Therefore, in this article, I will clarify the problems when applying design patents and copyright protection to the world of Metaverse without limit for the design of industrial products, and also discuss several issues of Article 2, Paragraph 1, Item 3 of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, which was amended in 2023 to cover the protection of designs of industrial products within the world of the Metaverse. In conclusion, this paper believes that in order to protect a world where no infringement occurs without access, we should oppose the expansion of protection for design patents to the Metaverse and rely on the regulation against slavish imitations of UCPA.