Trademarks are also moving into the virtual world. The first global brand owners have begun to protect their trademarks for virtual products and services.

McDonald’s has applied for trademark registrations for a virtual restaurant, virtual food, virtual drinks and events. It plans to open a restaurant in the metaverse. Panera Bread, another major U.S. food chain, has also filed trademark applications to build virtual restaurants and other digital services.

In addition to food chains, Walmart, Microsoft, Nike, Skechers and, of course, Meta (formerly Facebook) have also reported trademark applications for virtual products and services. The number of these companies will definitely grow.

Does your company plan to sell in the metaverse?

Trademark protection is limited to the products and services for which the application was originally filed. Therefore, supplementing the trademark portfolio with new registrations is often necessary to ensure that the protection is clear and undisputed also for any new products or services that the company intends to sell under its brand in the future.

From a practical point of view, new trademark registrations are the best practice to ensure that a company has all the tools at its disposal to monitor its brand rights and defend against infringements – also in the virtual world and the metaverse.

Metaverse is a major megatrend in 2022

Metaverse is expected to be the new era of the Internet. Metaverse can be seen as a virtual 3D world that includes interactive and collaborative spaces. These provide people with different experiences through virtual and augmented reality technologies. The metaverse term is combined from the prefix meta, meaning ‘over’, ‘beyond’, ‘second’, ’post’; and verse, which is derived from the universe.

Technology giants are now investing heavily in innovative virtual and augmented reality technologies in the metaverse. This megatrend gained momentum in October 2021, when one of the world’s largest companies, Facebook, changed its name into Meta, focusing on developing its own metaverse.

In January 2022, Microsoft announced the purchase of one of the world's most successful gaming companies, Activision Blizzard, with the intention of further developing its own metaverse technology.

Metaverse is estimated to be one the most important megatrends in 2022, and the next growing target for technology investments.