Does my national trademark apply in the Metaverse?

The application of trademark law in the metaverse depends on the platform being used. As trademark law is territorial in nature, a trademark registered in one country only applies within the borders of that country. This can present challenges in the metaverse, where it is not always clear which jurisdiction a particular platform belongs to, as there is no physical location to identify.

To address this, courts will need to establish a sufficient link between a platform and a specific country to apply its trademark laws and grant national trademark registrations validity in the metaverse. This can involve considering various criteria such as the top-level-domain, language used, and available payment options. These factors can help determine the appropriate jurisdiction for trademark law to apply in some cases.

However, it is currently unclear whether these criteria need to be updated, and under what circumstances national trademarks apply in the metaverse. Recent decisions in the US, such as the MetaBirkin case, suggest that national trademarks could potentially apply in the metaverse if the infringing party has strong connections to the jurisdiction in question.