Lawyers are also in the metaverse, that virtual universe that little by little is populating with all kinds of services, activities, and entertainment. TMI Abogados, a Mexican law firm specializing in copyright, patents and information technology, opened its virtual office this week to attend appointments and meetings with clients.
TMI is the first law firm in Mexico with a presence in the metaverse, with the aim of motivating others to participate in virtual reality and learn about this new technology and its relationship with law and intellectual property.
TMI Abogados is led by Kiyoshi Tsuru, Arely Aquique and Rodolfo Rangel. His presence in the metaverse, Tsuru said in the virtual office presentation on April 19, is to reflect on the technological, intellectual property and cybersecurity factors related to new technologies, in addition to practicing with new forms of interaction and loyalty o systems such as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
It’s about exercising the space to engage with customers, deliver disruptive services and offer pro bono services for remote communities, Tsuru said.
One of these pro bono services, as the effort of some professionals to contribute to nonprofits from their specialization is known, is the work that TMI Abogados carries out with artisans from the community of Olinalá, Guerrero, to protect their intellectual property and allow them to offer high quality crafts inside and outside of Mexico.
TMI Abogados developed the designation of origin Lacas de Olinalá, hand in hand with the craftsman Bernardo Rosendo, a brand distinction awarded by the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) in August 2022 and which protects the technique of lacquering wooden objects produced in that region of Guerrero.
“In 1996 I pushed clients to buy their domain names on the Internet, something emerging at that time, today I invite them to enter the metaverse,” said Tsuru, an attorney and J.D. from George University School of Law. Washington.
The metaverse is the label with which a conjunction of digital technologies, such as virtual reality and augmented reality, is known to build and interact in virtual worlds.
The metaverse hashtag has gained popularity in recent years on the back of strong encouragement by tech entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, in setting up a new corporate goal focused on virtual reality. That encouragement led to the name change of his parent company, which he named Meta Platforms, Inc.
The presence of TMI Abogados in the metaverse is found through the Spatial platform, a deliberate decision by the firm for being outside the Meta Platforms, Inc. ecosystem. “We are interested in decentralized environments because we are interested in governance. The Meta environment is shaping up to be the enclosed space of a private company,” Tsuru said.
For some experts dedicated to thinking about the implications of new technologies, the metaverse is a “hypothesis” and, therefore, they urge people and companies to experience it to seek benefits and design strategies in case its use becomes widespread soon. .
A survey by the consulting firm PwC, one of the four largest audit houses on the planet, showed that 42% of the executives consulted are willing to try the metaverse for “integration and training” of their workers, as a space for “interaction between colleagues ” and “virtual content creation for consumers” (36%), such as NFTs.
A study by Tenable, a corporate cybersecurity firm, estimates that 23% of private organizations already design their incorporation into the metaverse.
“The future has caught up with us,” said Rodolfo Rangel of TMI Abogados, in the presentation last Wednesday.
