Basketball Star and Payments Giants File Metaverse and Crypto Trademarks
The number of brands filing crypto and Metaverse trademarks is on the increase as several big names do not want to get left behind in the race to the next big thing.
Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry has filed a trademark for his metaverse offering as the NBA superstar seeks to tap into his NFT enthusiasm yet again. The three-pointer king announced the filing of the Curryverse, laying a foundation for his intention to build interactive digital environments to drive his brand further in the Metaverse and sell NFT products.
The Curryverse trademark filing will give Curry the rights to offer entertainment services, including appearances in person, virtually, or in the Metaverse, and online gaming in virtual worlds. The filing is the first crypto and Metaverse trademark Curry has claimed, and further underlines his involvement in the crypto space, as he is an ambassador for Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX since 2021.
Steph Curry has also delved into the NFT space previously. In August 2021, the basketball superstar bought a Bored Ape NFT, adding to his digital collectible collection, which features other NFTs including a LinksDAO golf membership pass. Curry also released his first official collection late last year, partnering with sportswear maker Under Armour. His collection grossed over 2200 ETH (an estimated $3.5 million) in total sales on OpenSea.
The Golden State Warriors, Curry’s NBA team, have adopted integrations with Web3, securing partnership deals with several crypto startups to sell non-fungible tokens and drive the tokenized fandom economy. Yet, Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors are not the only ones making forays into the metaverse and Web3.
On October 22nd, payments behemoth VISA submitted two trademark filings to the department of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) concerned with virtual wallets, NFTs, and the Metaverse. In one of the filings, VISA applied to own a trademark tied to software for managing digital blockchain transactions, serving as a cryptocurrency and digital wallet, handling storage, and initiating/verifying cryptocurrency transactions on the blockchain.
Another aspect of VISA’s filings relate to offering temporary use of software (non-downloadable) for viewing, storing, monitoring, accessing, trading, sending, receiving, transmitting, and exchanging digital currencies, cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, blockchain assets, and digital assets. Other aspects of the filing involved non-downloadable virtual items, digital collectibles, and NFT collectibles.
The most catchy part of VISA’s trademark applications stated the intent to obtain rights to create or provide virtual environments where users can interact for different purposes, such as recreation, leisure, or entertainment, fully accessible in the virtual world. From all indications, the payments giant has revealed its plans to invest heavily into offering a Metaverse to its numerous customers.
VISA’s applications come on the heels of similar moves by several global brands. Enterprise organizations like the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and American Express have filed trademark applications similar to VISA’s in 2022. Also, the payments giant itself hinted at its future plans when it filed a patent application for converting fiat currency into a digitized form in 2020.
