Ford is set to join the metaverse with virtual cars and nonfungible tokens. The company has just filed trademarks that show it is intent on dipping its feet in the metaverse and NFT space. This latest effort is also coming after the company recently announced massive staff cuts.

Ford is just the latest company to immerse itself in nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse. It has filed a total of 19 trademarks covering all its major car brands.

The information was revealed on Wednesday this week by USPTO licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis via a tweet. The tweet states that the Ford Motor Company has filed a total of 19 trademarks across its leading car brands including the Explorer, Mustang, F-150 Lightning, Lincoln, and Bronco among others. The trademarks are not only for virtual cars; there is also a trademark for a Ford NFT marketplace. The Ford Motor Company is the largest American automaker and has millions of clients and fans.

Metaverse Car
Metaverse Car

Ford’s metaverse trademark filings also include applications geared at protecting the virtual versions of its cars along with digital clothing, vehicle parts as well as car accessories. These virtual items will be used in “virtual worlds” such as virtual and augmented reality trade shows. Ford filed trademarks for nonfungible tokens that could contain text, audio, video, artwork, and videos for its many models including trucks, cars, SUVs, and vans.

Ford is also contemplating its own ‘in-house’ NFT marketplace as a trademark application for a website for promoting “the digital artwork of others by means of providing online portfolios.” The trademark application for the website also says it would offer “retail store services featuring non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and digital collectibles.”

Ford’s recent metaverse trademark filings are part of a broader trend where companies across the verticals are embracing the metaverse.

Facebook rebranded itself to Meta last year to show its pivot to the metaverse and that move inspired several other companies to start contemplating and implementing their own metaverse worlds.

Trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis released a study this week showing some 4,150 applications had been made covering the metaverse or virtual “goods/services” with the USPTO through to August 31. This is in contrast to the 1,866 applications that were filed in the whole of 2021.

There has been a slowdown in trademark applications in the past few months following the slump in crypto prices. However, according to Kondoudis, the metaverse is still considered a growth area by many companies and they are planning investments in this area.

Companies see the metaverse as something of the next evolutionary phase of the internet, according to Kondoudis. He says companies expect this market to grow substantially and that it will present various opportunities for monetization.

While some companies are putting serious roadmaps for the implementation of the metaverse in their business processes, there are some that are simply riding the hype and mimicking their competitors. Some are jumping early into the metaverse to try and avoid potential legal issues, even though it is not immediately profitable or useful for them.

Source: Fortune

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