Ford files for 19 metaverse-related trademarks
Ford, the largest US-based automaker by sales, is preparing to enter the metaverse with 19 trademark applications for everything from virtual cars to an NFT marketplace.
The Michigan-based automaker’s filings include applications to protect virtual versions of its vehicles, as well as digital clothing and vehicle parts and accessories to be used in “virtual worlds,” including virtual or augmented reality trade shows. The company also filed a trademark application for NFTs that could feature artwork, text, audio and video of its cars, SUVs, trucks and vans.
Ford may also consider its own NFT marketplace based on a trademark application for a website to promote “the digital artwork of others by offering online portfolios” and that would offer “non-fungible token (NFT) retail services and digital collectibles.”
Ford did not immediately respond Fortuneits request for comment.
The company’s recent trademark filings are part of a larger trend of companies jumping on the metaverse bandwagon. Since Facebook parent company Meta rebranded last year to reflect its growing metaverse ambitions, companies have begun to seriously consider incorporating virtual worlds into their businesses.
A study this week by trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis, who also tweeted about the Ford filingsfound that about 4,150 applications have been filed for metaverse or virtual “goods/services” with the US Patent and Trademark Office through August 31 – exceeding the 1,866 applications filed in all of 2021.
Trademark applications have slowed in recent months as crypto prices have fallen, but Kondoudis said Fortune that many companies still see the metaverse as a growth area.
“Some see the metaverse as the next internet or at least the next evolutionary step of the internet,” Kondoudis said Fortune in an email. “They expect that it will grow into a significant market and that there will be many ways to monetize it.”
Still, other companies may be just imitating competitors or trying to avoid potential legal trouble by not jumping on the metaverse trend early, even if it ultimately doesn’t pan out.
“For now, it is an open question whether a trademark registration for physical goods, for example, will protect a mark for corresponding virtual goods in the metaverse,” Kondoudis said Fortune. “Think sneakers versus computer code that reproduces the image of a shoe in the metaverse. Is the trademark registration infringed?”
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