Published Paper Details:

The Metaverse is no longer a speculative idea confined to science fiction. It is emerging as a network of persistent, immersive and commercially valuable virtual environments built through a convergence of virtual reality, augmented reality, gaming engines, blockchain infrastructure, artificial intelligence and digital marketplaces. These virtual environments allow users to create avatars, trade digital goods, display artworks, organise virtual performances, construct virtual architecture and monetise token-linked assets. While such developments have opened new possibilities for creativity and commerce, they have also created difficult questions for copyright law. Traditional copyright doctrine was designed around identifiable authors, territorial infringement, clear copies of protected works and relatively stable licensing arrangements. The Metaverse disrupts these assumptions because copyrightable works may be created collaboratively, generated by artificial intelligence, embedded in virtual spaces, linked to non-fungible tokens or circulated through pseudonymous blockchain transactions. This paper examines whether the existing Indian copyright framework is adequate to address copyright protection and enforcement in the Metaverse. It analyses the copyrightability of virtual assets, authorship and ownership of user-generated content, NFT-related misconceptions, AI-generated works, fair dealing, platform liability, moral rights and cross-border jurisdiction. The paper adopts a doctrinal and comparative legal methodology, relying on Indian statutory provisions, leading Indian case law, selected foreign jurisprudence and international policy materials. It argues that India does not require an entirely separate copyright statute for the Metaverse at this stage, but it does require clearer interpretive guidance, platform governance standards, transparent licensing practices, creator-awareness mechanisms and cross-border cooperation. A balanced framework must protect creators without preventing legitimate remix culture, innovation and user participation in immersive digital environments.