Sally Yoon is an IPilogue Writer and a 3L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Museums have long been a source of education and inspiration, but technological advancements have allowed for exhibitions that display a unique intersection of modern technology and history. Exhibitions incorporating the use of AR and VR technologies enable visitors to and absorb educational content through interactive games. Museums have become some of the world's most innovative content creators, capturing the attention of individuals of all ages.

Engaging, accessible and a springboard for creative projects

What exactly does it look like when a museum embraces technology? In 2021, Athena Art Foundation, Colnaghi Foundation, National Portrait Gallery and Megaverse collaborated to launch the “” series. The series features digital, interactive versions of the gallery’s portraits in place of their traditional, static counterparts. Brought to “life,” the portraits tell their stories in an engaging and authentic style. The first portrait in the series featured Jem Belcher, a 19th-century bare-knuckle boxer and butcher who speaks of his accomplishments as one of the best boxers of his time. Additionally, these digital portraits are more accessible to a wider audience, including those with visual impairments.

Augmented reality (AR) has also been utilized to explore various perspectives. Last year, LACMA collaborated with Snapchat in the Monumental Perspectives Collection to explore LA community histories through AR. As a part of the collection, Sandra de la Loza’s “” is an AR animation to portray what has been lost and “a vision of new ecologies in the future.” The piece revives native plants in South Los Angeles and illustrates how the land is linked to time and history with the transition of seasons.

(Caption: Sandra de la Loza, What the Willow Whispers, 2022, in collaboration with LACMA × Snapchat: Monumental Perspectives, © Sandra de la Loza, image courtesy of Snap Inc)

A new box of legal issues

Museums will need to consider new issues as they explore new technological media. For example, they will need to weigh the potential benefits and drawbacks of allowing visitors to use various AR apps and tools to customize works. While some argue that such acts would be a defilement of fine art and would prefer that works are preserved in more controlled environments, others see that these technologies offer opportunities to study works in greater depth. Loic Tallon, Digital Chief of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, : “[t]he museum’s mission is to collect, preserve, and study works of art … if someone is making an AR experience out of the collection, I see it as pure mission fulfillment.”

Furthermore, remains a key issue that can easily be complicated when it comes to these technologies. For AR works that may be the product of multiple copyright holders, the museum must make sure that proper steps are taken to locate and obtain all permissions or licenses for the use of the work. In this process, it will be important to discuss with artists the extent to which their work is original and what is sourced from third parties.

Annually held conferences such as the “” by MuseumNext, bring together members of the world’s leading institutions, to continue exploring the ways technology can be integrated in exhibitions in the future. If you love both history and technology, chances are your local museum has something for you.

The post When Modern Technology Meets History - How Museums Are Creating Interactive Experiences appeared first on IPOsgoode.

Junghi Woo is a former IPilogue Content Manager, an IP Innovation Clinic Fellow and a 3L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. This article was written as a requirement for Prof. Pina D’Agostino’s Directed Reading: IP Innovation Program course.

In 2020, a South Korean television and radio network,����that revealed one family’s journey in recreating their 7-year-old deceased daughter, Na-Yeon, through the technology of virtual reality (“VR”). VIVE Studios, a VR technology studio, used����to create this VR character.����

While this technology may not be as common in Canada, we should nonetheless consider the implications of introducing such innovations, especially when it involves minors. In fact, there exist several legal implications within Intellectual Property law (“IP”), such as the common law principle of personality rights.����In the case of Na-Yeon, her personality rights were used to recreate her VR persona.��

In Ontario, there exists a lack of legislation regarding the protection of both non-celebrity minors’ and adults’ personality rights. This presents a concern with the growing posthumous market and the commercialization of personality rights and potentially, of individuals’ digital assets used to “revive” the dead.��

Such technology is not novel. For example,����through his past text messages with his friends and family members. By using artificial neural networks,��. The result was fairly accurate and allegedly helped Mazureko’s loved ones’ grieving process. Companies such as����already have a patent that could create a digital clone that embodies people’s “mental attributes”.����a New Zealand-based software company, markets “digital humans” for enhanced online customer service.��

With Kanye West’s gift to his ex-wife Kim Kardashian��, and a��” industry derived from the pandemic, the posthumous artificial intelligence market is not too far from our futures. Firms such as����offer online chat bots based on one’s digital footprint to keep the bereaved to “stay in touch” with the deceased.��

Along with significant privacy concerns regarding the collection and use of individuals’ digital assets, the commercialization of such IP brings us additional questions regarding the safety of its target market. Mainly targeting grieving people, it is questionable as to whether companies will avoid exploiting the vulnerability of their emotional states and if they are able to deliver their services and products without risking their customers’ mental health. Those who grieve may seek to reconnect with the deceased and companies can monetize this vulnerability not only through their products, but their targeted advertisements. The possibility of the bereaved becoming attached to these recreations is another danger to consider. Without proactive legislation, we leave not only the deceased unprotected but the bereaved as well.����

The real question is, what would you risk to see your lost one once more?��

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Photo by JESHOOTS.COM ()

Sally Yoon is an IPilogue Writer and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

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Playing games in your room is one thing, but what about bringing your room into your game? allegedly updated a patent for virtual reality (“VR”) technology that can scan real objects into virtual reality. , Sony appears to finally be moving forward with the patent process despite issues and resubmissions following their initial filing on June 23, 2021.

The technology appears to stem from , which uses “overlapping images to create a 3D point cloud of an object or landscape.” SfM photogrammetry is a concept that has already been widely used in the video game industry to add greater immersive elements. One of the first games that might pop into mind would be , which exhibits photogrammetry cities through a collaboration with . Using SfM photogrammetry in the game, players can virtually experience flying over photorealistic cities around the world.

Photo from

The technology in Sony’s recent patent aims to bring this technique closer to home, literally. The 3D-scanning technology would enable users to scan real-life items into a VR space and interact with them, with the requirement that the user has a 360-degree view of the object for a successful scan. It’s currently unclear what Sony intends to do with this technology and whether it will eventually have any connection with the new , which is anticipated to release sometime this year. However, it does promise a greater level of user customization within the virtual reality space as well as signal interesting developments for both gaming and collaborations with .

Photo from GameRant

Over the years, VR technology has increasingly shown its potential to create extravagant, otherworldly environments, but also simulate the real world. VR has been a space for various subjects, from as well as . You may have stumbled across the of a man using a VR headset for a week in 2019 where he engaged in various activities such as meditation and movie screenings. On top of already prominent developments from (formerly known as Facebook) and , and their investments in virtual reality, Sony’s patent has interesting future implications for a more immersive metaverse.

The 3D-scanning technology is also reminiscent of the company’s infamous “” patent last year, where the company introduced technology that would enable non-luminous objects (mostly simple, household objects) to be used as controllers. These patents suggest the company's desire to close the gap between players' real and virtual lives. After all, regardless of how impressive it is to replicate historical events or fly through picture-perfect cities, no space will ever be more realistic than your living room.

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