Copyrighting Experiences: How Copyright Law Applies to Virtual Reality Programs

Authors

Alexis Dunne

Document Type

Note

Abstract

This note will attempt to shed light on the question of what kind of protection copyright law affords VR experiences. Part II discusses the nature of VR experiences and their implementation through specifically tailored VR technology. Part III provides an overview of copyright protection, its limitations, and specifically the history of the copyrightability of computer programs. Parts IV and V outline case law relevant to the discussion of the copyrightability of different types of VR experiences and how that case law similarly or dissimilarly apply to the protection of VR experiences. Part IV focuses on protecting VR experiences as a literary work, through its underlying code and Part V will focus on protecting VR experiences as audiovisual works, through its visual outputs. Part VI discusses a potential avenue for obtaining copyright protection through the useful article doctrine, while avoiding some of the major roadblocks to copyright protection that discussed in the previous sections. Finally, Part VII provides a summary and conclusion of the current state of protection for the elements which make up VR experiences as well as suggestions for how VR developers may want to proceed in order to obtain the largest scope of protection for their works.

First Page

329

Last Page

360

Recommended Citation

Alexis Dunne, Copyrighting Experiences: How Copyright Law Applies to Virtual Reality Programs, 12 J. Bus. Entrepreneurship & L. 329 (2019)
Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/jbel/vol12/iss2/2