McDonald’s Filed 10 Trademark Applications for the Metaverse

McDonald’s: The iconic fast-food restaurant chain wants to enter the metaverse. It looks like you’ll be able to order home delivery from virtual worlds.

According to trademark lawyer Josh Gerben, the company has filed ten trademark applications for the virtual space.

The application, submitted on February 4, points to plans for a “virtual restaurant, offering real and virtual goods.”

McDonald’s would also like to run a ‘virtual restaurant with home delivery.’ Additionally, the restaurant will provide ‘downloadable media files,’ such as works of art, audio files, video files, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

McDonald’s in the metaverse

The fast-food chain would also like to include its McCafe chain in its metaverse plans. The brand would offer entertainment services such as ‘real and virtual online concerts and other virtual events.’

If these plans see the light of day, the fast-food chain will compete with other virtual concert organizers. Such concerts are becoming more and more attractive because they remove geographical barriers that prevent fans and artists from interacting. They would also reduce the cost of touring and even the risk of contracting the Covid-19 virus.

Virtual bread

The McDonald’s trademark filing came a day after a similar application was filed by bakery and café chain Panera Bread. It intends to provide a virtual chain of restaurants and cafes known as PANERAVERSE. Like McDonalds, Panera Bread will offer downloadable and NFT content, virtual food and drinks, and virtual meeting spaces.

Gerben said, “I think you’ll see every brand handing in these submissions in the next 12 months. I don’t think anyone wants to be the next Blockbuster and completely ignore the new technology that’s coming.”

Other events are indicating an increase in metaverse adoption, even in its initial stages. At the end of last year, more than 1300 companies in China filed applications for registration of metaverse trademarks, despite the resistance of the central bank. Silicon Valley tech giants Apple, Meta and Microsoft are also trying their hand at this field.

Virtual World

A February report by research firm Gartner indicates that by 2026, 25% of people will spend at least one hour of their time daily in the virtual world.

On average, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office takes about nine and a half months to process applications. Gerben, however, is convinced that neither McDonald’s nor Panera Bread will have problems with this.

The interest in the McDonald’s metaverse comes about two weeks after the company mocked cryptocurrency HODLers during the recent decline. One thing led to another, and within a few hours Grimace Coin had made huge profits.

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