물리적 ‧ 디지털 융합 환경에서 상표 희석에 관한 연구 - 증강 ‧ 가상현실 및 메타버스를 중심으로 -

Since the first Korean Trademark Act was enacted and enforced on November 20, 1949, it has been developed by adapting to unexpected innovations and evolution in the market and technologies. In the nearly 75 years after the enactment of the Trademark Act, through about 50 revisions of the law, it was necessary to quickly adapt to unexpected commercial reality and technological changes. In particular, the Trademark Act has made various efforts to respond quickly to rapid technological advances and market changes, from the fact that it has been revised 41 times since 1990 when internet and digital technologies began to be commercialized and more than once a year since 2016. Although the Trademark Act has various purposes, such as “maintaining fair competition” and “protecting the rights similar to the property rights of the trademark owner,” since its main purpose is limited “to prevent confusion among consumers caused by the use of trademarks for goods and services,” it is necessary to respond to and transform the current market changes. New technologies such as virtual and augmented reality have recently been used in commerce, requiring new legal interpretation and revision to regulate changes in the new market and achieve the purpose of the trademark law, and one of these challenges is the dilution of the trademark. In the virtual‧augmented reality and metaverse, trademarks are highly likely to be used for certain information delivery means such as social and cultural meanings independently possessed by trademarks, separated from trademarks and services, beyond being used to simply indicate the source. The use of a series of social and cultural meanings inherent in the trademark does not cause confusion of sources required in determining trademark infringement, but may damage the original identification and reputation of the trademark, which hinders the purpose of trademark act. It is necessary to consider legislating the anti-dilution regulation in the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act as a type of trademark infringement in trademark act. The reason is that virtual‧augmented reality, and metaverse platforms will inevitably create new trademark disputes. For this reason, there is a need to consider the tasks of the trademark act that virtual‧augmented reality, and metaverse technology will trigger in relation to the problem of dilution of trademarks.