Pravne posledice korišćenja žigom zaštićenih oznaka u virtuelnoj realnosti
Jelena Ćeranić Perišić · 2022
Due to the development of digital technology a new form of social and economic exchange in Virtual Reality (VR) has been created. The users can socially interact with each other through their avatars. Moreover, players can create their virtual businesses and therefore sell goods and services to other users. Revenues obtained in this way can be spent on other virtual goods and services or converted into real world currencies to be spent in the physical or online worlds. Increased development of VR technology brings a host of legal questions surrounding both the intellectual property of the actual technology as well as unlawful activity within the VR space itself. The interaction that VR has with the real world makes it possible to create a new channel for marketing content and products through virtual e-commerce. The establishment of a new VR market also implies the use of trademarks in VR. Due to the interplay of the real world and VR, trademark law faces migration of trademarks from one world to the other. A comprehensive analysis of migration of trademark from real world to VR and vice versa goes beyond the scope of this paper. Therefore, this article attempts to shed light only on some legal consequences of using trademarks in VR. Accordingly, the following issues are analyzed: functions of VR related to the use of trademarks, possibility of registering trademarks for virtual goods and services, assessment of similar goods and services for likelihood of confusion, and types of liability for trademarks infringement in VR.