Juan Londoño

In recent weeks, lawmakers have introduced legislation to ban or heavily restrict teenagers’ use of social media. But these bills will not keep teenagers safe from online harm, and they will severely stifle the development of the metaverse—an emerging immersive digital space that offers new opportunities for learning, working, and socializing.

Companies are flocking into an emerging field, attempting to lure consumers to their platforms with competitive prices, new features, and engaging content.

Immersive technologies have already proved to be useful in supplementing classroom education and on-the-job training. Those successes underscore how implementing the technology can bolster the effectiveness of apprenticeship programs in the United States.

Policymakers should empower metaverse platforms to develop innovative tools and solutions to address safety issues and ensure AR/VR products and services don’t harm users. Overly prescriptive regulation risks stifling the progress of those innovations.

Police tech could transform the way law enforcement operates, reducing crime and saving lives. Policymakers should focus on advancing adoption while enacting regulations to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of police tech.

As more content creators migrate to the metaverse—creating immersive, interactive, 3D virtual environments and placing virtual products within them—IP owners may face challenges in acquiring and enforcing trade dress and design patents for purely digital goods. To address this challenge, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) should issue guidance clarifying the rights associated with trade dress and design patents, especially essential terms like “functionality” and “secondary meaning,” to ensure digital goods receive IP protections just like their physical counterparts.

With the development of the metaverse and other Web3 technologies creating more challenges for protecting rightsholders from online theft, Congress should update the DMCA to foster greater use of innovative technologies to protect copyright online.

The rollout of eye tracking technologies in AR/VR devices has sparked a conversation regarding the risks and benefits of its implementation. But due to the infancy of the technology, most of the arguments on the matter tend to be hypothetical.

The FTC filed a complaint in federal district court seeking to block Meta’s acquisition of the virtual reality start-up, Within Unlimited. The complaint is seriously flawed, but if successful, its challenge to the acquisition could deliver a serious blow to the nascent VR app market.

Despite its rise in popularity in recent times, there is no certainty over what the metaverse will look like and what practices will remain in the long term, including its predominant business model. Companies will likely try various models that combine ad-based and sale-based tools to find financial sustainability and a broad user base.

By promoting the creation of AR/VR-ready content, tourism offices and related organizations can both encourage tourism to their destinations and find new revenue streams that can help conserve vital infrastructure, such as national parks.

The immersive nature of these technologies allows for a learn-by-doing approach to education, which can be particularly helpful for those professions which require individuals to be able to make quick judgment calls, where the difference between life and death is decided in a matter of seconds. Adopting XR-based training programs for first responders could provide them with safer, higher-quality training at a lower cost while driving up investment and innovation in the XR market.

Join ITIF for a panel discussion with policymakers and thought leaders about how to ensure that users can enjoy the benefits of AR/VR technology safely.

Juan Londoño speaks on dispute resolution mechanisms that may have a role to play in resolving some NFT and IP issues.

Watch the panel discussion with policymakers and industry leaders about how the use of immersive technologies could bolster the efforts to increase apprenticeship offerings and enrollment in the United States. The event will feature remarks by Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE).

Watch ITIF's panel discussion with industry insiders and thought leaders about how companies can use immersive technologies to market and sell products and the impact of laws and regulations on these opportunities.

Juan Londoño will be speaking at TPRC 2022 in Washington D.C. The panel will focus on the public policy questions surrounding the development of the metaverse, ranging from competition policy, privacy, and user safety.

Join the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and the XR Association for the second annual AR/VR Policy Conference.

View ITIF's virtual discussion about user safety in social XR, including upcoming challenges and how to protect children and teenagers on these platforms.