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The Singapore Law Gazette

Attendance Notes: Metaverse Meeting with Laura_46220

[Warning: This is a work of fiction to illustrate interactions in the metaverse. All characters and entities appearing in this work are fictional. Any resemblance to any person, whether dead or alive, is purely coincidental. No privileged lawyer-client communications have been disclosed, and no avatars or individuals were harmed, in the writing of this article.]

This is an excerpt of a conversation between a lawyer and a client set in year 2052. The conversation takes place in Colourful Words LLP’s metaverse office in world number 8315 (also known as the “Colourful World”, one of the 20,294,858 interconnected worlds in the metaverse), between the avatars named “Laura_46220” and “Law Lee”.

[The avatars appear to sit in a virtual, private meeting room. An automatic announcement plays from a speaker in the virtual room: “Attention. This meeting will be recorded by HC1Note to readers: HC is short form for “Hologram Capture”, which is a recording containing the audio, visual and spatial elements of the space the avatar is in. Any avatar replaying the HC will experience the recording as though it was in the original scene. for our record-keeping and security purposes. If you do not agree to being recorded, please let us know immediately.”]

Law Lee: Hi, I’m Law Lee. That’s my avatar name. My real-life name is Lawson Lee. How should I address you?

Laura_46220: (in a deep, baritone voice) Hi, I’m Laura_46220. My real-life name is Larry Tan.

Law Lee: Thanks for contacting me via HM2Note to readers: HM is short form for “Hologram Message”, which is an instant message function on Colourful World. A HM, when opened, projects the sender avatar into the receiver avatar’s space, so that the receiver avatar can hear and see the avatar just as the avatar spoke, looked and moved while recording the message. Much like watching a video, but in 3D. yesterday and for joining me in this space today.

I saw from your avatar profile information that your real-world location is Singapore, is that correct? I must remind you first that I’m only qualified to advise on Singapore law.

Laura_46220: Yes, correct. I’m in Singapore. Never been out of Singapore, actually – I’m only a ‘verse traveller.3Note to readers: As the metaverse and its supporting technology evolves and develops, real-world travel may potentially be phased out and replaced with the cheaper and more convenient alternative of travelling between metaverses designed to reflect real-world or imaginary attractions.

Law Lee: Thanks for confirming. Anyway, I understand from your HM that you’ve experienced some issues in Colourful World?

Laura_46220: (sighs) You know, Colourful World has given me so many problems recently. I actually want to deactivate my account already, but unfortunately, I need to resolve all these issues first.

Law Lee: Okay, I sense you’re frustrated. How about we start from the first issue you talked about in your HM to me – the one about your friend Alan. Could you help me understand more about what happened?

Laura_46220: That cheater bug! So, a few months ago, I attended a virtual party on Colourful World and got to know a guy with the avatar name Ch34terBug0709 – I don’t know his real-life name, but he told me to call him “Alan”. Alan told me that he had previously bought a plot of land on Pink Ocean Street which he was now thinking of selling.4Note to readers: Colourful World providers for an in-game function for users to purchase virtual real estate plots from the platform and engage in in-game p2p transactions involving such plots with other users.

Hearing this, I got very excited as it has always been my dream to own a plot of land on Pink Ocean Street. It would be a nice upgrade from my previous plot at Yellow Brick Road. I asked Alan how much he was selling the plot of land for, and he told me that he could sell it to me for just 5,000 Rainbow Coins.5Note to readers: Rainbow Coins is the virtual currency used in Colourful World. Rainbow Coins cannot be exchanged for fiat currency.

Law Lee: Wow, that’s a bargain price, considering that I’ve heard of some Pink Ocean Street plots going for 15,000 Rainbow Coins or more.

Laura_46220: Exactly! I had the same thoughts, so I quickly agreed to his offer. Alan insisted that we transact immediately and that I provide for the full payment upfront. He promised me that if I did so, I could start moving in immediately.

On hindsight, I should’ve known that there was something fishy about this arrangement but at that time, all I could think of was how I didn’t want to miss out on a great deal. So, I immediately transferred 5,000 Rainbow Coins to Alan and I received the digital title deed to the property within minutes after it was recorded on our blockchain.

After this, I had to log off from Colourful World due to my real-world commitments and didn’t get a chance to log on again until last Friday. I navigated to the Pink Ocean Street address which Alan had provided me, all ready to design and build my new virtual home. But when I arrived, I realised, to my horror, that the plot was being already occupied by another avatar! Her avatar name was CandyCane87 and it looked like she had already been living in the plot for some time.

Law Lee: Oh dear! How did this happen?

Laura_46220: I confronted “Candy” and she explained that she was Alan’s virtual lover – or at least, that’s what Alan had her believe. According to Candy, Alan was the one who had bought and paid for the plot of land initially. After Alan met Candy, Candy moved into the plot of land and continued staying there with him. Sometime during the last year or so, Alan had promised Candy that he loved her and wanted them to be virtually married, and that the plot of virtual land was a gift from Alan to Candy. However, recently, for some reason unknown to Candy, Alan had become rather cold towards Candy and asked that she move out, citing a need for more personal space. Candy refused and asked Alan to vacate instead!

Unsurprisingly, this was around the same time that Alan had decided to sell the plot of land to me.

Law Lee: I see. Did you manage to ask Alan about his side of the story?

Laura_46220: No, unfortunately, I tried to send him a HM but it seems that he has already deactivated his Colourful World account.

Law Lee: Right, right. And what about Candy – was she willing to consider giving up the plot?

Laura_46220: Well, I tried to explain my situation to Candy, but she was utterly hysterical. She kept insisting that she was the rightful owner of the plot of land and absolutely refused to leave. I feel bad for her, but I don’t think that’s fair. After all, I paid for the plot of land and am the registered owner on our blockchain, and she has nothing to show for it! Shouldn’t there be a way for me to legally reclaim possession of the plot? I tried to ping the platform admins but I only got the template holding message. They have also temporarily disabled my admin messaging function for spamming!

Law Lee: Well, if we were to follow real-world principles, your ownership and ability to reclaim the plot would be a question of property rights. We have a land title registration system in Singapore and if you had registered your transaction via this system, you would likely be regarded as the owner, notwithstanding Alan’s promises to Candy (which you had no knowledge of). This would enable you to bring a direct claim via our real-world legal processes against Candy to enforce your proprietary interest in the plot if this took place in the real-world.

Unfortunately, things are not as clear-cut in the metaverse. The biggest issue is that the real-world protections afforded to land do not generally extend to metaverse plots and it is not very clear from Colourful World’s terms of use as to what the effect of registering the plot sale on our blockchain is, or what rights the digital title deed grants to you. It does however say that in the event of dispute, you can refer to the platform administrators and their decision would be final. So, the practical route may be to continue to reach out to the administrators for help.

You may also consider bringing a real-world claim in misrepresentation or breach of contract against Alan, but given that he has deactivated his Colourful World account, tracking him down in the real world would not be easy.

Laura_46220: I see, thanks for explaining the situation to me. I suppose that it may not be worth going through all that trouble for just 5,000 Rainbow Coins. I’ll have to think about this further.

Law Lee: Sure. Shall we move on to the next issue you mentioned, then? I recall it was something about golf balls.

Laura_46220: Ah … well, since I couldn’t move into Pink Ocean Street, and I had already sold the previous plot where I was staying, I had no choice but to buy another plot on Yellow Brick Road. Everything seemed to be going well … until the guy who bought the plot next to mine decided to convert his plot into a virtual golf course. Ever since then, virtual golf balls have been flying into my house every single day.

You might think that this isn’t a big deal, but it is to me. I’m a virtual musician, and I often conduct livestreams of my music sessions from my virtual home. The sound from, and sight of, flying golf balls breaking my windows and my furniture have disrupted the tranquil landscape I usually portray to my viewers and badly affected my soothing style. I’ve lost so many Rainbow Coin donations from my fans because of this.

Do you know if there’s any way for me to make my neighbour pay for the losses which I have suffered because of him?

Law Lee: Well, there is a rule from a case called Rylands v Fletcher, which states that you can bring a claim against another party if a dangerous “thing” escapes from his property into your property, and causes damage to your property. However, this rule was traditionally intended to protect rights in or enjoyment of physical property. If you wish to rely on this rule, you will have to show the rule in Rylands v Fletcher is equally applicable to virtual property, since they hadn’t considered virtual property when deciding this back in 1868. It has never been done before but we can further discuss how we can help you, and our estimated fees, if you are keen on proceeding.

Practically speaking though, I think that your best recourse for all of these issues would be to contact the platform administrators as well to see if there is anything that they are willing to do about the situation.

Laura_46220: (sighs) This is much more difficult than I expected. Based on what you’re telling me, it seems that legal problems in the metaverse are much more complicated to resolve than those in the real world!

Law Lee: Don’t worry, we’re here to help, and we’ll explore these issues in more detail later. For now, let’s move on to the next issue you mentioned in your HM – it says here that you think you were sexually assaulted. Could you tell me more about what happened, please?

Laura_46220: I had been feeling down about all the issues I had recently encountered in Colourful World, and I decided to head to Colourful Karaoke6Note to readers: Colourful Karaoke is a virtual karaoke bar in Colourful World, where avatars can sing their sorrows away while ordering and paying for drinks at the virtual bar (and then the drinks are delivered to real-life addresses of their choice). to sing my sorrows away. (avatar gestures at itself) I had chosen a female-looking avatar when I first joined Colourful World and since then, I’ve been getting all kinds of unwanted attention from creepy Colourful World avatars. And this time was no different. There was this guy, I think his avatar name was OnlyFriends9009, who kept hitting on me the whole evening! I didn’t want to give OnlyFriends9009 my virtual address, so I decided to just leave the bar. But when I got up to leave, I noticed OnlyFriends9009’s avatar groping my avatar’s butt. The nerve of that guy! I felt so distressed about what happened that I haven’t been able to sleep for weeks. Thinking about it makes my blood boil!

Law Lee: That sounds terrible, I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I assume that you have reported the incident?

Laura_46220: I wanted to report it to the platform admins but my admin messaging feature is still disabled.

I feel so frustrated, I don’t want to let him get away with this. I want him to go to jail! If I report this to the police, do you think he can be charged with molest?

Law Lee: Let’s see … were you wearing a full-body haptic suit7Note to readers: A haptic suit is a wearable device which provides haptic feedback to the body. This allows individuals to touch and feel virtual objects and other avatars as they would in the real world. As technology evolved with time, most metaverse worlds in 2052, including Colourful World, support the use of full-body haptic suits. during the incident?

Laura_46220: I wasn’t, so I didn’t actually feel any sensation on my behind, if that’s what you mean. The virtual controllers that I was holding buzzed, though. But why should that matter? Molest is molest, whether it takes place virtually or in real life. I saw him do it with my own two eyes!

Law Lee: Unfortunately, I think that the answer may not be as straightforward as that. You see, the offence of outrage of modesty under Singapore’s Penal Code requires there to be “[assault or use of] criminal force to any person”.8Section 354 of the Penal Code. It may be difficult for you to prove this since what OnlyFriends9009 did was directed at your avatar, not your real-life body. There are also other practical considerations to think about, like whether the police will be able to successfully track OnlyFriends9009’s real-life identity.

Laura_46220: I understand what you’re saying, but isn’t there any other way to hold him liable?

Law Lee: Even if outrage of modesty is challenging, there are other offences which may be relevant. For example, it may be easier for the Prosecution to prove that OnlyFriends9009’s actions constitute an offence under the Protection from Harassment Act (in short POHA), which provides that it is an offence for a person to threaten, abuse or insult another person, whether by words, behaviour, or some other form of communication, if he does so with the intention of causing, and actually does cause, the target person to suffer harassment, alarm or distress.

The POHA also allows for civil claims. This means that you can consider bringing a claim against OnlyFriends9009 under the POHA, to recover damages for the distress that you have suffered a result of his actions.

But again, practically, it may be easier to have the platform administrators take action against him under the platform’s Community Standards9Note to readers: Community Standards are the Colourful World platform rules which describe acceptable standards of behaviour and avatar interaction and the penalties for infringement.. I would suggest that you continue reaching out to them.

Laura_46220: Wah, you really practise tai-chi, everything ask me to talk to the administrators, then need you for what?

Law Lee: Errm, please don’t say that.

The differences between the real world and the metaverse can throw up many novel issues. We can help to advise on these novel issues, but we’d have to charge based on the amount of the work involved, so we suggest you carefully consider whether legal action is necessary or worth it based on your situation.

Also, metaverse developers and providers are usually very well-protected through their terms of use and afford themselves substantial discretion to address platform-related issues. To avoid being caught by surprise, always make sure that you are aware of and comfortable with a metaverse platform’s terms of use, Community Standards and so on, including the powers afforded to platform administrators, before registering for an account and investing your time and resources into it.

Lastly, I do hold weekly tai-chi sessions at Yellow Brick Road, feel free to join, I can teach you how to tai-chi golf balls away.

Laura_46220: …

[The avatars leave the meeting room.]

Endnotes

Endnotes
1 Note to readers: HC is short form for “Hologram Capture”, which is a recording containing the audio, visual and spatial elements of the space the avatar is in. Any avatar replaying the HC will experience the recording as though it was in the original scene.
2 Note to readers: HM is short form for “Hologram Message”, which is an instant message function on Colourful World. A HM, when opened, projects the sender avatar into the receiver avatar’s space, so that the receiver avatar can hear and see the avatar just as the avatar spoke, looked and moved while recording the message. Much like watching a video, but in 3D.
3 Note to readers: As the metaverse and its supporting technology evolves and develops, real-world travel may potentially be phased out and replaced with the cheaper and more convenient alternative of travelling between metaverses designed to reflect real-world or imaginary attractions.
4 Note to readers: Colourful World providers for an in-game function for users to purchase virtual real estate plots from the platform and engage in in-game p2p transactions involving such plots with other users.
5 Note to readers: Rainbow Coins is the virtual currency used in Colourful World. Rainbow Coins cannot be exchanged for fiat currency.
6 Note to readers: Colourful Karaoke is a virtual karaoke bar in Colourful World, where avatars can sing their sorrows away while ordering and paying for drinks at the virtual bar (and then the drinks are delivered to real-life addresses of their choice).
7 Note to readers: A haptic suit is a wearable device which provides haptic feedback to the body. This allows individuals to touch and feel virtual objects and other avatars as they would in the real world. As technology evolved with time, most metaverse worlds in 2052, including Colourful World, support the use of full-body haptic suits.
8 Section 354 of the Penal Code.
9 Note to readers: Community Standards are the Colourful World platform rules which describe acceptable standards of behaviour and avatar interaction and the penalties for infringement.

Partner
Cybersecurity and Data Protection Practice
Allen & Gledhill LLP

Eugene is the co-head of the firm’s Cybersecurity and Data Protection practice. His practice is focused on technology and intellectual property transactions, agreements and advice.

Eugene’s clients include both established businesses as well as start-up companies. His experience encompasses matters related to outsourcing arrangements, IT systems development and procurement, software and content licensing and delivery, FinTech, contractual collaborations and joint ventures, data centre arrangements, e-commerce, telecommunications, data protection, privacy and cybersecurity, contract manufacturing and research and development arrangements, gaming, Video-on-Demand, Over-the-Top and cloud/online services, media and events, hospitality and franchising, agency and distribution arrangements.

Senior Associate
Allen & Gledhill LLP

Jean is a Senior Associate with Allen & Gledhill’s Technology & Corporate Intellectual Property Practice. She has experience in a broad range of advisory and transactional matters including electronic contracting and e-commerce, public-key infrastructure, data protection, cybersecurity, online content, intellectual property commercialisation, contractual collaboration, as well as procurement, IT, licensing, services, manufacturing, distribution, supply and agency agreements.

Associate
Allen & Gledhill LLP
E-mail: [email protected]

Marissa is an Associate with Allen & Gledhill’s Technology & Corporate Intellectual Property Practice. She has experience in advisory and transactional matters including e-commerce, data protection, cybersecurity, franchising, contractual collaboration, as well as procurement, IT, licensing, supply and services agreements.