Description
Whether it is the successor in state of Web 2.0 or a hype is yet to be decided, but it is likely that some form of metaverse and its related technologies are here to stay, representing fertile grounds for business, artistic, educational and personal development. The feasibility of those developments depend both on the technology and on the existence of a well-defined regulatory framework that provides legal certainty. At times when the legal and regulatory implications of the metaverse are not clear, understanding the trends and options becomes peremptory for legal practitioners, businesspersons, academics and policy makers, to have the ability to meet clients and society’s expectations.
SCL, with the mission to inform and educate legal and technology professionals, academics and students and the wider audience on the impact of IT on law and legal practice, is co-organising the 2022 SCL Policy Forum, to analyse the impact of metaverses and related technologies on the law and explore policy options. SCL has teamed up with Queen Mary University of London, QMUL, a Russell Group university premier in the development of new technologies and the analysis of the relationship between law and technology, with its School of Business and Management, the Centre for Commercial Law Studies and the Digital Environment Research Institute.
After a discussion of the different meanings of metaverse, address privacy in the metaverse, intellectual property issues in virtual environments, avatars harmful behaviour, and metaverses and the future of work. Each of the topics will be discussed by a panel of experts from industry, academia, legal professions and policy makers.
Programme
Introduction
Professor Greg Slabaugh, Director of the Digital Environment Research Institute, DERI, QMUL
Session1: The Metaverse: future or fuzz?
Barry Scannell, Consultant at William Fry, Dublin
Session 2: Privacy in the Metaverse
David Satola, ICT Lead Counsel, The World Bank
Mauricio Figueroa, Lecturer at Universidad Autonoma de Mexico/Newcastle School of Law
Dr Fernando Barrio, Trustee, SCL, Senior Lecturer in Law, SBM QMUL
Session 3: Intellectual Property in the Metaverse
Dr Michaela MacDonald, Lecturer at the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, QMUL
Dr Andres Guadamuz, Reader in Intellectual Property Law, University of Sussex
Leandro Toscano, Head of the Business Development Unit, World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center
Session 4: Regulation and Policing of Harm in the Metaverse
Lord Clement-Jones CBE, Co-Chair of All Party Parliamentary Group on AI
Professor Julia Hörnle, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London
Benson Egwuonwu, Associate, DAC Beachcroft
Session 5: The Future of Work and the Metaverse
Rachel Bence, Chief Information Officer, Queen Mary University of London
Professor David Leslie, Director of Ethics and Responsible Innovation Research at The Alan Turing Institute
Martin Pino, Professor of Law, FADESA – Faculdade para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável da Amazônia, Brazil
Closing remarks
Professor Richard Susskind OBE, President, Society for Computers and Law
