Metaverse and the Law - by Andre Barabino, Patricia Helena M. Martins, and Victor Cabral Fonseca

sAnd the “metaverse” isn’t the topic of the moment, it’s definitely one of the main ones. Maybe because of the digital boom that social isolation provides, maybe because of the movement of big tech companies in this environment, and the fact is that at a certain point, a lot of people started envisioning immersive virtual environments as spaces where there are more and more social interactions. Expanding horizons of coexistence and allowing full digital interaction are the central proposals for technologies based on metaverses; In addition, they bring with them new opportunities for work, business and leisure. For law, this new world is (literally) full of challenges, but at the same time full of opportunities.

After all, what is metaverse? The question is not trivial and the answer, in turn, is hardly clear. In a (very) summarized way, the metaverse is a virtual, global and immersive environment in which people, through their avatars, can interact with other individuals and do activities they would normally perform in the physical world – such as meetings, shopping, and even taking drinks and drinks at bars. In this space, people (or their avatars) can buy land, build houses, and later profit from the sale of these assets. These environments can be offered by one or more companies – or, in its original sense, based on decentralized technologies and without their own management (the famous DAOs or, in Portuguese, decentralized autonomous organizations).

Since the term refers to the type of technology that gives life to these virtual environments, it is possible to say that today we have many “metaverses” available to users: every space can be considered as a technology, whether it is provided by a company or a DAO “metaverse” that people can connect to .

Although there is not a great deal of certainty about the future of this environment – similar to what happened with the Internet in the 1970s – it is a fact that law enforcement is indeed essential in this area; Some situations are already becoming a reality: Cases of digital hacking, fraud and other illicit behavior in metaverse-based environments have already been identified.

But the most difficult is determining how the law works in this area. In Brazil, for example, the first metaverse search and seizure order was executed. In a measure aimed at combating digital piracy, a virtual incursion was carried out, and on that occasion, 11 people were arrested and 266 websites were hosted in Brazil, 53 in the United Kingdom and another six in the United States.

The main question that arises on this type of occasion is what jurisdiction should act – in this specific case, there has been action by the Brazilian authorities, however, in a decentralized and globalized environment like the metaverse, space and the ease of carrying out illegal operations is growing Actions. After all, in theory, there is no longer any need to centralize a criminal base in just one place. However, each jurisdiction’s scope of action remains highly specific and centralized, so deciding which country should act is a related challenge. But, in addition, as transactions, ideas, and actions implemented in the metaverse gain new facets and affinities, other innovative discussions emerge – some very specific to certain areas of law.

These are, for example, intellectual property rights to avatars, skins and other virtual items; use of crypto assets as currency; Real estate transactions of virtual lands; consumer relations involving hypothetical things; Among the many other legal questions that, as debates heat up among professionals, raise a fundamental question: Will existing laws be sufficient to protect rights in the metaverse?

Thus, in order to understand the interactions between law and metaverse, it is necessary to approach the topic in an interdisciplinary manner (that is, to consider different areas of law, such as civil, consumer, criminal, labor, etc.). Moreover, it would not necessarily be necessary to conduct a new regulation exclusively for metaverses. This is, in many cases, more than new laws, we will need new interpretations of existing laws.

At this point, great value is seen in the work of lawyers – both working on cases involving the metaverse and producing content that enhances their discussion in the regulatory environment. Only then will we be able to provide more legal protection for the use of this technology and safe and reliable environments.

Given the new frontiers of information flow, these and other questions become very relevant. After all, there will still be people behind avatars.

In this sense, it is necessary to pay attention to the application of the law in the metaverse, as well as to address issues related to the topic. Faced with the new conditions of a highly interconnected society, the ability to adapt to the metaverse is what makes the position of the lawyer increasingly important, once again revealing an area full of new possibilities.