USE OF TRADEMARK IN METAVERSE

AUTHOR – MEGHA, LL.M. (IP) STUDENT AT AMITY UNIVERSITY NOIDA

BEST CITATION – MEGHA, USE OF TRADEMARK IN METAVERSE, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (4) OF 2026, PG. 480-490, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344. DOI – https://doi.org/10.65393/IJLRV6I446

TRADEMARK USE, INFRINGEMENT AND ENFORCEMENT IN THE METAVERSE

Nature of Trademark Use in Virtual Worlds

Trademark law in classical formulation is intended to regulate the use of signs that make immune in the marketplace as an indication of commercial origin and it also aims to defend the goodwill that is created for this sign through constant quality and consumer association. Virtual worlds and metaverse environments recreate the conditions necessary for a marketplace (buyers & sellers, product differentiation, advertising, transactional exchange & reputational competition) however, they do so through the use of technologically mediated and immersive modes. As a result, investigation of the “use” of a trademark in the context of virtual worlds must ask not just what value a trademark marker has as a visual representation but rather what is functional in the sense of being commercially important in an environment where goods and services can be intangible, avatar-based and tokenized^[1].

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[1] Joshua Fairfield, “Tokenized: The Law of Non-Fungible Tokens and Next Generation Digital Property,” Southern California Law Review 95 (2022).