A consideration of China makes sense as companies rush to hedge their bets when it comes to the metaverse and their valuable trademarks.
To date, most Western brands have focused primarily on the U.S. and the European Union, filing for a mix of classes of goods/services to cover their largely-prospective metaverse activities, namely class 9 (“downloadable virtual goods”); 35 (“retail store services featuring virtual goods”); and 41 (“entertainment services, namely, providing on-line, non-downloadable [goods] … for use in virtual environments”). But also, 42 in some cases (“non-downloadable computer software” and “non-fungible tokens”), and in a small number of cases, 25 (including “virtual clothing” alongside the traditional physical apparel that falls in this class of goods).
Dr. Martens, for instance, filed applications in classes 9 and 35 for its name and logo with the EUIPO last month. Tommy Hilfiger has filed applications with the same trademark office for marks like Tommyverse and Tommy World in the EU in classes 9, 25, 35, 41, and 42. Cosmetics and beauty companies like L’Oreal, NYX, Maybelline, Skinceuticals, and MAC, among others, have filed applications in a number of these classes in the EUIPO. And Allbirds lodged an international application with the World Intellectual Property Office in November after filing in the U.S.
商標登録insideNews: ナイキ、メタバース時代に備え商標保護とデジタル商品開発への対応着々 – Engadget 日本版
