On March 29-30, 2023, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held the 7th Session of the Conversation on Intellectual Property (IP) and Frontier Technologies titled  "IP and the Metaverse".

The session gathered representatives of relevant Ministries and IP Offices, including the Eurasian Patent Office, African Regional Intellectual Property Organization, European Union Intellectual Property Office, China National Intellectual Property Administration, Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property, Canadian Intellectual Property Office and Japan Patent Office, as well as representatives of the private sector, comprising universities, research and development institutions, law firms and the business community.

The event focused on various interpretations of the "metaverse", regulatory framework and its cross-border aspects, the concept of property within the metaverse and closing the technology gap, as well as the role of IP in fostering innovation and economic growth, law enforcement, dispute resolution and other relevant matters.

Deputy Head of Rospatent Valery Frolov presented the Russian experience in establishing  a common digital environment and IP-related digital transformation.

"One of the Rospatent key activities is consistent work on the establishment of the IP ecosystem that may flexibly adjust to various challenges and accelerate the development and introduction of innovations improving the life quality," noted Mr. Frolov.

"In Rospatent, we believe that the digital transformation and the focus on the legal protection of digital technologies and objects for the Uprights protection in the digital environment will provide great opportunities for researchers and entrepreneurs to create and develop innovations, as well as to increase the IP-generated revenue”.

Background information:

The WIPO Conversation is an open multi-stakeholder forum intended to advance the understanding of the IP issues involved in the development of frontier technologies, including AI and blockchain, their integration, and bridging the existing information gap in this fast-moving and complex area.

The sessions of the Conversation have a truly global reach. Past sessions have each attracted on average 1 500 attendees spanning across 130 countries from the WIPO Member States to academia, IP professionals and enterprises.