Web 3.0 and the promise of the metaverse has generated excitement about new markets for businesses large and small. But as with any technological frontier, legal uncertainties cause new risks to emerge alongside the opportunities. One area currently full of legal questions is trademark law. We will examine what we see as three of the biggest open questions that should make anyone entering the metaverse tread carefully—issues that should even make organizations staying IRL to begin to consider how to protect their brands from unexpected challenges in the virtual world.

Read the full article at The Drum.

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Photo of Peter Cramer Peter Cramer

Peter Cramer is an associate in the Corporate Department and a member of the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group.

Peter earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2021, where he was honored as a James Kent Scholar and received the Michael D.

Peter Cramer is an associate in the Corporate Department and a member of the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group.

Peter earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2021, where he was honored as a James Kent Scholar and received the Michael D. Remer Memorial Prize for Excellence in Copyright and Art Law. At Columbia, Peter served as co-President of the Entertainment, Art and Sports Law Society; as coach of AIPLA, Columbia’s intellectual property moot court team; and as a staffer for the Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts.

Peter received his B.A. from Wesleyan University in 2014, where his senior thesis documentary film earned him Departmental Honors and the Best Documentary Award from the Film Studies Department. After college, he was nominated for an Emmy for his work on the documentary film American Experience: The Mine Wars. Peter was born and raised in Massachusetts.

Photo of Wai Choy Wai Choy

Wai Choy has deep expertise in technology, media and intellectual property-related transactions and counseling and is a partner in Proskauer’s Corporate Department, Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Group, and Blockchain & Digital Assets Group. He is recognized as a trusted advisor to asset…

Wai Choy has deep expertise in technology, media and intellectual property-related transactions and counseling and is a partner in Proskauer’s Corporate Department, Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Group, and Blockchain & Digital Assets Group. He is recognized as a trusted advisor to asset managers, operating companies and other enterprises at various stages in their development and across industries, including technology, technology-enabled services, media, financial services, e-commerce, sports and healthcare.

In the context of private equity, mergers, acquisitions and financings, Wai:

  • Structures and negotiates key transaction documents, such as purchase, merger, transition services and intellectual property license agreements;
  • Leads teams in conducting legal due diligence and provides industry-specific market insights;
  • Advises clients on technology, intellectual property, privacy and data security matters; and
  • Represents portfolio companies pre-sale or post-acquisition in their business operations, including key commercial transactions and strategic agreements.

Wai also helps operating companies navigate legal and business matters in their day-to-day business operations and leads the structuring, drafting and negotiation of a wide range of contracts, such as:

  • Service agreements for a variety of services, including outsourcing, software as a service (SaaS) and other hosted services, data analytics, digital marketing, software and website development, systems integration, technology implementation and payment processing;
  • Collaboration agreements between strategic partners for the development, manufacturing and commercialization of new technology, products and services;
  • Software license agreements and other complex intellectual property license and assignment agreements;
  • Revenue sharing, joint venture, reseller, supply, equipment purchasing, manufacturing and other types of general commercial agreements;
  • Content production, license and distribution agreements covering various business models and distribution methods;
  • In the biotech, pharma and medical device arena, agreements covering research and development collaborations, intellectual property licenses, manufacturing, supply and distribution services, sponsored research, grants, revenue sharing and other strategic partnerships among commercial entities, academic institutions and/or charitable organizations;
  • Terms of use, privacy policies and end user license agreements for websites, mobile apps and other software; and
  • Advertising-related agreements spanning digital, radio and billboard media, including programmatic advertising platform agreements, lead generation service agreements, advertising reseller and affiliate agreements, insertion orders and advertising terms and conditions.

Wai serves as Co-Editor of Proskauer’s Blockchain and the Law blog and counsels business and legal teams on blockchain and distributed ledger technology development, structuring and implementation, cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), fan tokens and other digital assets, and associated legal issues.

Prior to joining Proskauer, Wai worked in the Business & Legal Affairs departments of Marvel Studios in Los Angeles and Marvel Entertainment in New York. At the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Wai served as Senior Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and was a Levy Scholar.