McDonald’s is the latest large firm to file trademark applications for virtual goods, services, and even virtual restaurants and cafés, following in the footsteps of Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and its envisioned virtual world, the metaverse.
KEY FACTS
- Josh Gerben, a trademark lawyer whose company monitors new trademark registrations on a daily basis, was the first to notice the requests on Twitter on Wednesday, pointing out ten McDonald’s applications.
- The McDonald’s trademark applications, which were filed on February 4, include requests to trademark “running a virtual restaurant featuring actual and virtual items,” as well as “operating a virtual restaurant online incorporating home delivery.”
- The company also intends to trademark “on-line actual and virtual concerts” in addition to other entertainment offerings offered through its virtual McCafe.
- The requests follow Panera Bread’s February 3 trademark application for the “Paneraverse,” which seeks to trademark the bakery company’s downloadable, virtual food and beverage items “for use in virtual worlds,” as well as NFTs and the option to purchase actual goods in the virtual world and have them delivered.
- McDonald’s and Panera Bread have become the latest major firms to file for protection against a potential virtual establishment revolution, joining huge corporations such as Nike, Walmart, and Sketchers, which have all filed for protection in the past three months, among others.
When you see this critical mass of large companies making this many new trademark filings, it’s very clear this is coming,” Gerben told Forbes.