Augmented Reality Leapfrogs Its Virtual Cousin, But Will Legal Questions Slow Its Momentum?

Flip back through articles, columns, tweets and other prognostications from marketing pundits over the past decade plus, and you'll see a common theme: it's going to be a big year for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

And finally, that time has come. Well, sort of...

While we've been teased and tantalized about the potential of these awesome technologies, the time finally seems just about right for their proliferation — at least for one of the two platforms. That's the reality of new marketing technologies; once they reach a critical mass of brand and consumer buy-in, legal challenges naturally emerge as we explore their full potential.

In the case of these perception-altering platforms, it's VR that's experienced a downshift in momentum. This can be chalked up to some initial legal growing pains, including high-profile lawsuits, as well as a higher cost of entry that comes with creating the made-from-scratch, licensed intellectual property necessary for executing VR experiences - not to mention the potential for significant added costs for high-end viewing equipment . On the other hand, AR, in which computer-generated imagery is superimposed onto real-world content, is expanding much more rapidly due to its lower costs of entry and more widely available technology. This tech is versatile, too. Consumers can use the same functionality to point their phone at a pair of skinny jeans to virtually try them on as they can to place a mid-century modern table and ottoman in their living room to see if it fits their Feng shui.

My colleagues — Richard S. Eisert, Josh J. Gordon and Maxine Sharavsky Garrett — outlined the divergent paths AR and VR are taking in "As Augmented Reality Engagement Increases, Novel Legal Issues Arise." The article, written for Davis & Gilbert's Trends in Marketing Communications Law publication, also cautions that despite AR's momentum — fueled in part by new technology that facilitates user experiences through a web browser that eliminates the need to download a unique app for each program — legal challenges may be on the horizon.

One nebulous area is the scenario in which brands distribute hybrid creations of new and existing content that prompts...