A legal concept model of the metaverse in the field of intellectual property protection in the digital environment

The modern digital environment, characterized by the rapid development of virtual and augmented reality technologies, creates the prerequisites for the emergence of a new legal reality — the metaverse, within which traditional civil law institutions, including the sphere of intellectual property, are being transformed. The emergence of the metaverse as a distinct form of digital interaction reveals the limitations of existing legal mechanisms for protecting intellectual property rights, which do not consider the specific nature of the digital environment. The problem of legal regulation lies in the lack of understanding of the status of the digital environment and the legal nature of the technologies that constitute the metaverse, which necessitates theoretical reflection and the development of comprehensive approaches to regulating relations arising from the use of digital intellectual property objects. The purpose of this study is to form a model of a legal concept of the metaverse in the context of intellectual property protection, as well as to identify directions for legal regulation that ensure the effective application of mechanisms for safeguarding and enforcing intellectual property rights in the digital environment. To achieve this goal, the study examines the features of the legal nature of the metaverse, identifies gaps in the existing regulation of intellectual property in the digital environment, and substantiates directions for the formation of a new legal model for intellectual property protection. The methodological basis of the study consists of the systemic and formal legal methods, which allowed for the identification of internal patterns of legal regulation of intellectual property rights in the digital environment. To synthesize doctrinal approaches to the digitalization of law and the legal status of metaverses, the method of systematic analysis of scholarly sources was employed, enabling the identification of key principles and trends in the development of legal doctrine. The results of the study include conclusions on the necessity of a consistent legal adaptation process to establish an effective system for intellectual property protection in the metaverse. The author identifies three main forms of the adaptation process: doctrinal, legislative, and jurisdictional, each of which ensures the adaptation of legal mechanisms to the specific features of virtual reality and the digital environment without altering the fundamental principles of law.