In May 2021, Reed Smith published the Guide to the Metaverse, the world’s first guide to legal issues relating to the metaverse, some 29 years after the term was first used in the science fiction novel Snow Crash, five years after Pokémon GO’s virtual world was launched, and five months before Facebook changed its name to Meta.
Since then, the metaverse, web3, NFTs and blockchain have developed into decentralized digital spaces to live, work, and socialize in open and sometimes permissionless networks. While recently the value of many cryptocurrencies has plummeted, companies continue to make huge investments into technology in this space. To reflect the many changes the firm has seen through its work in the metaverse over the last year, Reed Smith is launching its Guide to the Metaverse - 2nd Edition.
The updated guide explores a number of new topics in greater detail, including web3, the law relating to NFTs, investing in the metaverse, the film and television industry, blockchain and crypto assets, the new and unique applications in the aviation sector and insurance issues. The guide also now contains a comprehensive glossary of terms.
“We knew that the metaverse – this new, evolving, alternative environment that combines technology, devices, and communication networks giving human beings the opportunity to collaborate, transact, perform, argue, and create as never before in human history – was going to affect many businesses. A lot can happen in a year,” said Gregor Pryor, co-chair of the firm’s global Entertainment and Media Industry Group, who edited the guide.
In succinct chapters written by experienced lawyers across multiple practices, this second-edition Reed Smith guide explores a range of emerging legal issues, such as:
- The future of entertainment and media, and the new frontiers of digital advertising, music, film and TV and games
- Artificial intelligence, data protection and privacy in a linked virtual universe
- Intellectual property, content licensing and new concepts of virtual ownership
- Non-fungible tokens and distributed ledger technology
- Investing in Bitcoin and other crypto-assets and regulations across the world
- Reputation management and the growing threat of deepfakes and disinformation
- Managing antitrust and competition risk
- Aviation in the metaverse
- Insurance issues deriving from the metaverse