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Speaker Gregor PRYOR I thought that most of the solutions to these types of problems tend to come from commerce. According to him, we are not about to see a government or legislative initiative that will succeed. Most Metaverse environments are in fact, “walled gardens”, which implies two sets of rules: The laws and regulations (for instance, copyright laws, child protections laws) which exist, and require compliance when we are a company. On the top of these Laws, we have contractual laws that allow us to use an environment. Users, in an Epic Games setting for instance, need to respect terms and conditions that apply. When technology is combined with terms of use, buyers will quickly understand that they own something that has value within the virtual world. No doubts that Commerce will have the solution, it will not come from legislators. Speaker Andres GUADAMUZ agreed. Initially, there was not a great need for regulation, because the existing laws, as mentioned before, are well adapted. Traditional case studies are still useful. However, he remains a bit skeptical of technological solutions, especially because things like smart contracts are often presented as the best solutions, as well as governance structures such as DAOs (governed by smart contracts), which have many flaws.



We are going to be governed by the benign system of Blockchain, reminding the Speaker a famous quote: “all watched over by machines of love and grace”. The reality tends to be a bit messier, as reflected in smart contracts, errors in the code that can block funds, contract theft. When things go wrong, companies that sold all this decentralization are actually going back to the “old boring law.” NFTs and Smart Contracts have a future, but we need to moderate it by putting some limits on it. Will we be able to learn from past experiences and mistakes in terms of developing digital spaces in a way that gives users equal power to companies that can't regulate the space the way they want to, and allows policymakers and regulators to really grasp and understand the Phone Number List nature and nuances of these spaces? Speaker Gregor PRYOR was very optimistic about the future and continued by saying that we learned from the past. The best example is privacy or child protection and how these have evolved to apply easily to the Metaverse. As Internet laws develop, they naturally apply to the Metaverse. Speaker Andrés GUADAMUZ was also optimistic about regulation. Companies have learned through content moderation, for example, and it is much better than before, even if it is not perfect. The Metaverse will also have its content moderation rules.







Questions from the audience Should owners of trademarks that are not reputed or well-known be filing new trademarks for software and related services to be protected in the Metaverse? How do you expect the relevant offices (EUIPO…) or courts to deal with the similarity of 'real goods' with the virtual version thereof? Speaker Gregor PRYOR responded by saying that the specific problem is not the registration but the infringement. Companies are going to be relying on trademark agents to draft really strong and clear specifications that perhaps are quite narrow for the virtual world. It is going to be a question of relying on strong practitioners to kind of make the market easier. Speaker Andrés GUADAMUZ also participated by seconding this thought and mentioning the great option for 'passing off' to shine as well. What is the value of a property title (“authentication certificate” delivered via smart contract) in the Blockchain according to intellectual property law? Speaker Andrés GUADAMUZ Referred to it as the receipt of a link that gives us access to where something may be stored, may it be on a decentralized service or on a centralized one. It is worth it as someone is more willing to give it.