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ARTICLE · 02 MAY 2023

Legal Rights In The Metaverse

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The Metaverse and NFTs present exciting opportunities for businesses, creators and consumers. However, new technologies will inevitably bring challenges on the legal front.

SingaporeIntellectual Property
Jonathan Kok
Jonathan Kok
Joyce Lee
Joyce Lee
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The Metaverse and NFTs present exciting opportunities for businesses, creators and consumers. However, new technologies will inevitably bring challenges on the legal front. We have identified some recent decisions involving the Metaverse and NFTs and distilled below some takeaways from them.

Intellectual Property

The recent US court decision in Hermes v Mason Rothschild is the first of its kind to involve enforcement of real-word IP rights against infringements in the Metaverse.

Hermes had commenced legal action against Rothchild, a digital artist who launched a series of NFTs which he called "MetaBirkins" – a portmanteau of "Metaverse" and "Birkins", the latter being a registered trade mark of Hermes. Each NFT was linked to a digital image of a colorful fur-covered bag which resembled Hermès' famous Birkin bag.

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