KIPO Establishes and Implements Guidelines on Recognition Scope of Metaverse 'Virtual Goods'

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced on the 13th that it has established and will implement the "Virtual Goods Examination Guidelines," which define the scope of recognition for virtual goods used in the extended virtual world (Metaverse).

The guidelines were prepared in response to the recent activation of virtual goods transactions in virtual spaces and the increase in related product applications.

The guidelines will take effect on the 14th, and from that day, forms such as "virtual + real goods," including virtual clothing and virtual shoes, can also be recognized as product names.

This expands the previous limitation where only forms such as "downloadable image files (virtual clothing)" or "computer programs recording virtual clothing (virtual goods)" were recognized as product names.

However, the term "virtual goods" itself is not recognized as a product name, considering that its ambiguous scope could cause trademark disputes.

The guidelines also classify virtual goods, which were previously categorized as similar to image files or computer programs, into a separate product category and further subdivide virtual goods reflecting the nature of real goods.

Through this, KIPO plans to prevent trademark disputes in virtual spaces and resolve the issue of excessively narrowing the range of trademark selection.

Additionally, virtual goods and real goods will, in principle, be judged as non-similar products and examined separately.

Although virtual goods may be expressed including some elements such as the name and main appearance of real goods and could be claimed as similar products, virtual goods and real goods have different purposes and sales channels, so the possibility of consumer confusion is generally low.

However, in cases where a trademark similar to a famous trademark is applied for, KIPO explained that it will examine whether there is a possibility of confusion with the famous trademark.

Mok Seong-ho, Director of the Trademark and Design Examination Bureau at KIPO, said, "By establishing examination guidelines applicable to the virtual goods sector, we expect to prevent confusion among applicants and enhance the consistency of examinations." He added, "KIPO will continue to strive to establish product examination standards that reflect actual transactions in preparation for new product applications linked to the acceleration of digital transformation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.