Research Report
Research and analysis of overseas regulatory trends related to the Metaverse industry
Ⅰ. Background and Purpose
▶ Background and purpose of research
○ Demand for nonfacetoface services is increasing in the wake of the COVID19 pandemic.
○ Metaverse, a nextgeneration virtual space platform, is emerging due to the spread of growth in the technology industry to form a virtual ecosystem.
○ Global ICT companies are expanding their investment in metaverse.
○ Major countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and China are focusing on securing the competitiveness of metaverse, paying attention to the potential and ripple effects of metaversebased technology.
Ⅱ. Major Content
▶ Concept and types of metaverse
○ Metaverse is emerging around the world, but there is no unified definit-ion of academia and industry today.
○ In this study, metaverse was defined by extracting conceptual elements such as connectivity, spatial elements, objects representing oneself in the real world, and metaverse's own ecosystem.
○ Metaverse was newly defined as "a virtual world that enables social, ec-onomic, and cultural activities through visualized spatial elements refl-ecting reality and connection with reality."
▶ Metaverse related policy trends
○ Since 2016, the Korean government has been expanding technology inv-estment and policy support to realize metaverse based on plans such as R&D, convergence, content production support, and human resource de-velopment.
○ The United States, the EU, the United Kingdom, and China have not esta-blished policies specifying "metaverse" so far, but they are supporting de-vices, software, and content in various fields based on technologies such as AR/VR/MR/XR.
▶ Metaverse related legal trends and Implications
○ In order to secure future competitiveness in various fields, it is essential to overhaul the domestic metaverserelated system.
○ It is important to determine whether metaverse should be distinguished as a game or a platform.
○ The reason is that it results in the question of what legal regulations are subject to domestic law.
○ As a result of an expert survey on the metaverse classification, most experts pointed out problems that arise when metaverse is classified as a game, and there were many opinions that it should be viewed as a platform.
○ If classified as a platform, the application of the law will vary depending on the size of the operator and the service provided.
Ⅲ. Expected Effects
○ In addition, this paper derives issues related to intellectual property righ-ts and virtual assets related to metaverse.
○ Through the discourse of experts on this, it is expected that it will contrib-ute to inducing innovation and preparing regulatory measures to manage pro-perly.