Benesch Establishes Presence in the Metaverse

Benesch is pleased to announce that the firm has established a presence in the metaverse. We are the first AmLaw law firm to establish space as an anchor tenant in LawCity.com’s Unitas Tower (located at 37, -58 in Decentraland), the first legal district in the metaverse.

The metaverse is creating jobs, and attracting attention from a wide array of industries including financial services, real estate, entertainment, retail, architecture and more. Navigating the metaverse requires skilled knowledge of blockchain technology, smart contracts, cryptocurrencies and other applications of blockchain including DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, DApps, and the like, artificial intelligence technology, and federal, state, local, and international cybersecurity and data protection laws, rules, and regulations.

Benesch is counseling clients in putting into place the agreements necessary to establish a legally compliant presence in the metaverse, and positioning our clients for success in this emerging space. We have an active, leadership role in Blockland—an industry leading blockchain initiative and serve on its Legal Node. Further, Michael Stovsky, Chair of Benesch’s Metaverse Team helped write the law in Ohio which officially recognized smart contracts as “writings” for purposes of recognition under state commercial law.  We are assisting clients in navigating the legal challenges related to establishing a presence and doing business in the metaverse including:

• Setting up of legal entities in the metaverse
• Intellectual Property services including copyrights, trademarks, patents, etc.
• Content licensing
• Data protection/security
• Technology transactions

Our metaverse team is comprised of 10 attorneys across the country and is counsel to a number of entities that have established presences in the Metaverse or are seeking to do so. Our growing experience includes:

• Representation of a nationally known digital architecture firm that has developed a unique cutting edge technology applicable to creating spaces in the Metaverse.
• Representation of one of the leading blockchain development companies in the United States with blockchain based applications that will be essential to connecting the physical world with the virtual world.
• Representation of a preeminent internationally known technology companies in the field of virtual reality and augmented reality that is developing consumer technologies that will be instrumental to engaging in social networking and business transactions in the metaverse.

For more information on Benesch’s Metaverse/Web 3.0, Blockchain practice see here.