Session
Round Table - U-shape - 60 Min
We will describe and discuss how the video games sector has been navigating and shaping the new scenarios opened by the Metaverse and NFTs markets. It will focus on whether and how these frontier technologies are changing consumers' expectations and business models, while challenging some established legal concepts.
The program will bring examples from different regions to show why and how creators, start-ups and SMEs care about the protection of their creativity and innovation. It will show how their ideas can be used as an asset for their growth and future, as well as how they are using the tools of the intellectual property system in that regard. Presentations will be interactive with ample time for interventions from the audience.
The Open Forum will be an occasion to raise awareness of WIPO's approach and activities in this space, notably the imminent project "Level UP your IP: A Videogame Developer’s Quest" aiming at training and connecting entrepreneurs and SMEs in certain regions of the World.
World Intellectual Property Organization
WIPO
Micaela Mantegna, Metaverse Ethics Architect, Women in Games Argentina Founder, Artificial intelligence & copyright professor. Argentina
Andres Guadamuz, Reader in Intellectual Property Law at the University of Sussex, Editor in Chief of the Journal of World Intellectual Property. Costa Rica
Gaetano Dimita, Senior Lecturer in International Intellectual Property Law at Queen Mary University of London. Italy
Ryszard Frelek, Regional and National Development Sector, WIPO
WIPO
Ms. Michele Woods, Director, Copyright Law Division, WIPO
WIPO
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
17. Partnerships for the Goals
Targets: SDG 9 The proposal's focus on frontier technologies, such as metaverse and NFTs, as a key driver for innovation and technological growth for economies, at all level of development, links directly to SDG target 9.b based on the fact that creative industries, such as music, video games, fashion, art, are often growing much faster than more traditional ones. In this regard, the proposal will showcase examples from different sectors that leverage the potential for innovation and creativity for purposes building inclusive and resilient economies in line with SDG 9's overarching ambition. SDG 17 The development of a balanced digital market place requires multi-stakeholder collaboration between, for example, individual creators, content developers, platforms, and policy-makers, to name a few. These kinds of cross-sectoral partnerships are linked to SDG target 17.6 and 17.7 in relation to enhancing, promoting, and encouraging public-private partnerships in support of sustainable development. The proposal will consider the enabling legal and regulatory frameworks which are required for developing countries and economies to drive such collaborations.
Report
The metaverse, NFTs and AI are frontier technologies of increasing public interest. They are all closely linked to the born digital videogame industry, which is forward looking, transnational or borderless, and therefore well placed for predicting future technology trends. Frontier technologies raise significant policy questions, which can arise notably owing to the divergent approaches to frontier technologies in the field of IP.
This is why the work of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in collaboration with other actors is important so as to increase the awareness of the IGF community about these issues, and also equip people and businesses to take advantage of the opportunities available.