“The Metaverse, characterized by its immersive digital environment and user-generated content, introduces a unique and intricate landscape for content creation and sharing. Given the ever-changing nature of the Metaverse, it is crucial to ensure that intermediary safe harbor provisions, are not applied to metaverse,” The Indian Music Industry (IMI, an industry body representing the business and trade interests of the recorded music industry in India) said in response to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI’s) consultation on the regulatory changes to accelerate the growth of technologies like the metaverse and artificial intelligence that are reliant on 5G networks. Safe harbor protection under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000, protects intermediaries like social media platforms from being held liable for the third-party content they host. IMI has asked TRAI to clarify that the existing safe harbor protections would only apply to “passive, automatic, and technical intermediaries” and that adequate responsibility would be placed on metaverse platforms.
It compares the metaverse to social media platforms saying that presently, platforms “claim intermediary safe harbor protections, due to which the enforceability of copyrights of rightsholders especially with respect to the music industry have become an astronomic task.” To avoid similar issues in the metaverse, IMI suggests that extending safe harbor to the metaverse would “create irreparable loss to the creators, artists and rightsholders in the industry while crippling the growth of the recorded music industry in India.” As such, it argues that both metaverse operators and their users should share responsibility in cases of intellectual property infringement. The submission was first reported on by the Hindustan Times.
How the metaverse threatens copyright enforcement:
The submission points out the need for intellectual property protection in the virtual world stating that user-created worlds (metaverses) are often created using copyrighted materials without prior authorization from the rights holders. As such, this leads to concerns surrounding copyright infringement, piracy, and enforcement of the copyright. The music industry also expresses concern over the licensing of copyrighted works, global jurisdictional challenges, and the transferability of rights between different virtual spaces.
The changing stance on safe harbor:
While the IMI argues that the metaverse shouldn’t have safe harbor, there is a possibility that social media platforms might also lose this protection. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is currently working on the Digital India Act which would replace the Information and Technology (IT) Act, 2000. Based on comments made by IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar there is a possibility that this new legislation will do away with safe harbor.
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