ISME April 2018

SME-Law
Are you Aware of the
Legal Issues in VR?
The bright side
of technology
has always
enamoured
people. The
business world is brimming
with entrepreneurs who
cannot stop discussing the
latest in technology. The
bright side of technology is
so appealing that people
forget that there might be
another side to it.
There has been many
cases where technology
has proved time and again
that it can be misused. To
give a few examples the
settled dispute between the
game maker ZeniMax and
Facebook where Facebook
was accused of ‘stealing the
source code’ throws light on
the infringements that VR/AR
possesses. Facebook had to
pay an amount of USD 500
million dollars for the breach.
The illegal betting on a FIFA
VR game that was referred as
FUT Galaxy last year and the
English VR gamer who was
caught for stealing virtual
property by hacking other
gamers’ profile in a game
called Runescape are just
other global examples about
how Virtual Reality has been
used illegally.
A misuse of the AR/VR world
brings in a lot of loss to a
business. It is great if one is
aware of the laws that can
help one out of the mess.
But in many cases, people
are not aware of the laws that
might help them out of a tricky
situation. Entrepreneurs who
are looking at venturing into
AR/VR must not jump into the
AR/VR bandwagon without
understanding the legal
issues that arise through the
use of AR/VR.
Here is a list of the legal
issues that arise out of AR/VR
usage.
1. Intellectual Property
Rights:
Everyone in the business
world is aware of the
Intellectual Property Rights.
However, the use of
intellectual property is more
of a concern than a relief in
the Virtual World.
Why?
The VR world allows one
to import music, brand
names, and photographs,
name anything through their
system. A VR system does
not need to obtain necessary
permissions from an owner
to get materials that are
protected by IP laws.
Secondly, VR users can log
in from any country. The
VR laws in every country
is different. This leads to
jurisdictional problems while
trying to enforce claims
against VR users. There is
a huge potential for IP laws
infringement in the VR world.
The traditional IP laws work
very differently. It works in a
way that helps a VR user to
escape liability. For example,
when one in incorporating
virtual material like music,
photographs, etc, the
traditional IP laws stipulate
obtaining permission
regarding applicable rights.
In many countries including
the USA, for a trademark
right to be infringed, it is
important that the use of
trademark is ‘in commerce’.
This leads to a user using a
brands’ logo escape liability
by claiming ‘no commerce’.
There is also this ‘fair use’
exception in copyrights that
makes it possible for a VR
user to infringe original works
through derivative works
available on VR platforms.
2. Privacy:
Privacy in the Virtual world
is next to nothing. There
are certain data protection
norms that are applicable
to AR/VR in almost all Asian
countries but this is not
enough.
VR gaming platforms has a lot
of data that is stored based on
50 www.theintelligentsme.com