Soon You Should Be Able to Go to McDonald’s in the Metaverse

With the rapid growth of assets in virtual space, many well-known brands are seeking to offer goods and services within the virtual reality field.  Following numerous other brands, McDonald’s has also thrown the hat in the ring to join in Metaverse offerings to consumers.

McDonald’s in the Metaverse?

Although most people go to McDonald’s for a fast meal, to give kids some quick food and fun, or for the fries … consumers may soon be able to enjoy McDonald’s in the Metaverse with an array of virtual goods and services.  If it seems odd to think of one spending money on a brand known for fast food but now in a virtual world selling intangible goods and services, then you haven’t heard of the apparent rush by brand owners to fill their spot in the virtual field.  If you know a famous business in the real world, it is most likely they have (or will soon) apply for trademark registration protection in connection with virtual goods and services.

Offerings of McDonald’s in the Metaverse

So, what can you expect from McDonald’s in virtual reality? McDonald’s applied for registration of MCDONALD’S to offer an array of virtual goods and services, some more than they offer in the real, tangible word, including:

• entertainment services, namely, providing on-line actual and virtual concerts and other virtual events;

• operating a virtual restaurant featuring actual and virtual goods, operating a virtual restaurant online featuring home delivery;

• online retail services featuring virtual goods;

• virtual food and beverage products;

• downloadable multimedia files containing artwork, text, audio and video files and non-fungible tokens

McDonald’s also applied for registration of MCDELIVERY for use with online retail services featuring virtual goods.

The Rush for Trademark Protection of Virtual Goods and Services

As if the real-world monitoring and policing of brands isn’t enough, brands must now also be on alert for infringement and misuse in virtual spaces.  The push for mainstream brands to enter into the virtual goods and services field is not only to expand consumer spending through virtual goods and services, but to help prevent others from misuse of their marks in such space.

To maintain ownership of and the goodwill in their marks, brand owners seek to prevent third parties from misuse and infringement of the marks and take action to stop potential consumer confusion that could tarnish their brand name.  With the expansion of virtual reality into, for example, the Metaverse which has a massive following, savvy brand owners are rushing to fit right into such space and circumvent the potential for others to use confusingly similar marks that could preempt them from later entering the same space. Although it was not likely in years past that a fast-food restaurant brand owner would naturally expand into the virtual goods and services field, it has now become commonplace.  Which is why you can expect to see McDonald’s in the Metaverse, as well as most well-known businesses, even if you wouldn’t expect them to dabble in virtual goods and services.

Key Takeaways on McDonald’s in the Metaverse

Businesses in real life (IRL) are hustling to reserve trademark protection of their brands for use with virtual goods and services to keep up with the trend of consumer spending in the virtual field. Businesses that would not have been likely to ever offer virtual goods in the past, are now seeking to do so to:

• keep up with consumer spending trends;

• fill consumers’ expectations of finding well-known brands in virtual offerings; and

• help protect their brands against third-party offerings of virtual goods and services under similar names.

For more information about trademark protection, see our Trademark Services and Industry Focused Legal Solutions pages.