가상 상품과 현행 지식재산권법상 보호 체계

While online is a two-dimensional digital space where information is accessed and shared primarily through text, images, and video, the metaverse is a three-dimensional immersive virtual world that can simulate reality and allows for more complex interactions and experi- ences. In terms of expansion of experiences possible in reality, commerce that takes place in real space is reproduced in a virtual space represented by the metaverse, and the shape of reality is transformed into a virtual digital image. In other words, virtual goods exist at the center of economic activities that occur in virtual space, and while digital images of virtual goods have the potential to be used in various ways, the scope of rights recognition and restrictions according to each possibility of use is unclear. In order to examine the scope of legal protection of virtual products in the virtual reality metaverse, we examine the current laws and harmonization of digital images, as well as their limitations. Also, in reality, there are cases where creators or rights holders make digital conversions in the metaverse, but there are cases where the appearance of a real object is borrowed and utilized in the metaverse space even though there are no rights, and recent disputes related to intellectual property in the metaverse have occurred. Many of them fall into this category. Therefore, this article examines legal issues according to the characteristics of virtual products in the metaverse, examines whether they can be protected based on the current Copyright Act, Design Protection Act, Trademark Act, and Unfair Competition Prevention Act, and then examines whether a person without rights under the current law can use knowledge in the metaverse. Issues regarding acts that infringe upon property rights are also reviewed.