The English Premier League (EPL), England’s top-flight soccer league, has filed for two broad trademarks related to NFTs, digital currencies, and the metaverse with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
The EPL requests to trademark its name, logo, and trophy for use in goods and services related to NFTs, digital currency, digital tokens, digital asset trading, financial services, and virtual sportswear. The trademarks were first disclosed via a tweet by trademark attorney Michael Kondoudis.
The Premier League has filed 2 US trademark applications for
▶️ NFTs, cryptocurrencies, digital tokens + collectibles
▶️ Digital asset trading
▶️ Financial and crypto services
▶️ Virtual clothing, footwear, and sports gear#NFTs #Metaverse #Cryptocurrencies #PremierLeague pic.twitter.com/1tPOU0dIOp— Mike Kondoudis (@KondoudisLaw) June 6, 2022
This application points to the EPL’s desire to foray into the rapidly growing metaverse trend. The metaverse is a term coined for the virtual reality world being developed with blockchain technology as its backbone. Many metaverse projects use NFTs to represent assets to give users data sovereignty.
The EPL has also been exploring releasing NFTs for fans. Back in February, reports emerged that several bidders were in the process of acquiring the NFT rights of the league.
Several popular NFT platforms were involved, including Sorare, Dapper Labs, Candy, and ConsenSys. The price of the rights was estimated to be worth up to $590 million. Meanwhile, 20 teams in the league have also reached individual NFT partnerships. These include Arsenal FC, and Manchester City FC, who are the winners of the last season of the competition.
Metaverse trademark filings on the increase among traditional companies
The EPL is only the latest to file for metaverse-related patents. Companies that cut across many industries, including fashion, food and beverage, and technology, have also taken the same course of action.
A few worthy of mention in recent times include Meta, the parent company of Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Gatorade energy drink, as well as McDonald’s—the biggest fast-food restaurant chain globally.
Governments and their agencies have also jumped on the trend. The U.S. Air Force and the government of South Korea are examples of interest from government quarters.
According to Josh Gerben, an analyst that spoke with Forbes, such filings and projects will only increase this year. This is because no company will want to be left behind in adopting the emerging technology.
“I think you’re going to see every brand that you can think of make these filings within the next 12 months. I don’t think anyone wants to be the next Blockbuster and just completely ignore a new technology that’s coming,” he said.
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