Značka: Patents

Trademark applications for crypto, NFTs, and metaverse surge in 2022: Report

The number of U.S. trademarks filed related to cryptocurrencies, nonfungible tokens, Web3, and the metaverse since January have reportedly passed those in 2021.According to data compiled by intellectual property lawyer Mike Kondoudis on Tuesday, individuals and businesses filed more than 3,600 trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for cryptocurrencies and crypto-related services as of Aug. 31, compared to 3,516 in 2021. In addition, Kondoudis reported that the number of nonfungible token, or NFT, applications had surged even higher — more than 5,800 in 2022 compared to 2,087 in 2021 — while the number of trademark filings related to the metaverse or Web3 had more than doubled: 1,866 in 2021 and 4,150 as of August 2022.So far in 2022 over 5800 trademark apps have been filed with the USPTO for NFTs (and related goods/services)Jan: 646Feb: 781 March: 1078 April: 886 May: 747June: 718July: 530Aug: 502The 2021 total was 2087.#NFTs #Web3 #NFTCommmunity #Metaverse #MetaverseNFT pic.twitter.com/3XCZTD4QP7— Mike Kondoudis (@KondoudisLaw) September 6, 2022Data from March reportedly showed the largest number of filings in 2022 across all three application types, with 1,078 for NFTs, 604 for crypto, and 759 for the metaverse, while July and August generally had the lowest number of applications. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in March that the company was preparing to make NFTs available on Instagram.Related: US trademark and copyright offices to study IP impact of NFTsCointelegraph reported on Sept. 1 that luxury brand Hermès had filed a trademark application in the U.S. for use of its name in the metaverse, NFTs, and virtual currency following the company filing a lawsuit against Metabirkins founder Mason Rothschild for allegedly to profit from the sale of NFTs bearing its Birkin name. In addition, major firms in and out of the crypto space including Meta, Formula One, Mastercard, McDonald’s, Gatorade, and the U.S. Space Force have all in 2022 made filings with the USPTO suggesting virtual products or involvement with crypto and blockchain.

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Will intellectual property issues sidetrack NFT adoption?

The rapidly growing but loosely regulated nonfungible token (NFT) industry already touches many areas of human endeavor “from academia to entertainment to medicine, art, and beyond,” wrote recently two United States senators in a letter to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the U.S. Copyright Office. The legislators were requesting a study to explain how this emerging technology fits into the world of intellectual property (IP) rights, including copyrights, trademarks and patents. It is an area that some say is marked by ambiguity and inconsistent application of the law, and sometimes indifference from the courts. “Many feel it is time for Congress to step in and provide the predictability needed for innovation to flourish,” Michael Young, partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP, told Cointelegraph.The joint study that senators Patrick Leahy and Thom Tillis requested from the agencies, due June 2023, has as background a recent slew of high-profile lawsuits — Nike v. StockX, Hermès v. MetaBirkins and Miramax v. Quentin Tarantino — that raise some sticky questions about NFT creation, ownership and dissemination.In one case, an NFT was minted — without permission — featuring sneakers with a Nike Swoosh. In another, NFT-related digital images were created of Hermès’ Birkin handbags, covered in fur, not leather, but also unlicensed. In a third, a famed movie director created NFTs from a film he directed but didn’t own. A “wave of litigations has already begun for trademarks and copyrights, and courts are grappling with applying principles crafted long before the NFTs existed,” Anna Naydonov, partner and co-chair with Young of Finnegan’s Blockchain, NFTs, and Other Digital Assets industry group, told Cointelegraph. “The lack of clarity surrounding patent subject matter eligibility for software remains a top concern for NFTs and other crypto-based innovations in both the U.S. and abroad,” said Young. Much the same could be said about trademark and copyright issues, especially the secondary liability of marketplaces like OpenSea, as well as metaverse virtual worlds and similar platforms where copyright infringement can occur, added Naydonov.Still, not all agree that new legislation is needed. Some believe that government intervention in the U.S. and elsewhere would be not only superfluous but could stifle NFT adoption and innovation.Is current law sufficient?The real problem, as Gina Bibby, partner at Withers Bergman LLP, told Cointelegraph, could simply be “a lack of education about what NFT ownership really means.” A key thing that people seem to overlook is that: “Absent a contractual agreement — e.g., smart contract — that expressly includes intellectual property (IP) rights, purchasing an NFT does not convey any copyright, patent or trademark rights or even ownership interests in the physical world asset on which the NFT is based.”Are there, arguably, some false ideas out there about NFT ownership and puzzlement over who can do what? Recent: The regulatory implications of India’s crypto transactions tax“Yes,” Eric Goldman, associate dean for research and professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, told Cointelegraph. “In the offline world, the buyer of a painting or sculpture doesn’t automatically buy the associated copyrights.” That is unless the copyright is separately transferred, the artist or sculptor “can commercialize depictions of the art/sculpture and prevent the chattel owner from doing the same.” Even if the average consumer isn’t always aware of this, the U.S. Copyright Act expressly states:“Ownership of a copyright, or of any of the exclusive rights under a copyright, is distinct from ownership of any material object in which the work is embodied.”Goldman sees “a lot of erroneous claims” being made these days to the effect that “that owning one piece controls the other,” i.e., the NFT owner controls the IP or the IP owner controls the NFT. People often fail to recognize that, just as in the physical world, a piece of art and the item’s copyright are often owned by two different people, so too “an item of IP and its NFT can and often will be owned by two different people.” Growing pains of a new industry?But, every new technology brings with it novel questions, and maybe the current debate is just another example of technology moving faster than the law. Will regulators and lawmakers struggle to keep pace with changes?“It’s the opposite,” Joshua Fairfield, a professor of law at Washington and Lee University, told Cointelegraph. “The law is already in place and has been for hundreds of years. Property is one of the oldest disciplines of law. There is no reason at all that someone cannot own an NFT like we own cars, houses, stocks, or the money in our bank accounts — after all, each of those property interests is also an entry in a database of who owns what.”The problem here, Fairfield continued, is that intellectual property law grew to overshadow personal property interests online, telling Cointelegraph: “If I own a book, I own the copy, despite the fact that the book contains copyrighted material. But online, I don’t own an e-book because too many courts only recognize the intellectual property interest.”That is beginning to change now, however, as courts recognize that intangible assets like domain names or NFTs are no different from any other kind of personal property interest that we want to own, added Fairfield.In Goldman’s view, the problem here “is similar to the issues about domain name ownership we wrestled with a quarter-century ago.” A domain name can be a piece of personal property even if it’s not protected by trademarks, he said, predicting that “the non-IP rules developed to protect those domain name owners will help resolve NFT ownership disputes.”Bibby, for her part, doesn’t agree that intellectual property law has grown to overshadow personal property interests online. “When intellectual property laws are applied in a thoughtful and measured way, other interests including personal property interests are likely to be respected.”Confusion along these lines isn’t restricted to NFTs, of course. A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), SpiceDAO, recently paid over $3 million at auction for the unpublished manuscript for the Dune film, intending to make an animated limited series about the book for a streaming service. We won the auction for €2.66M. Now our mission is to:1. Make the book public (to the extent permitted by law) 2. Produce an original animated limited series inspired by the book and sell it to a streaming service3. Support derivative projects from the community pic.twitter.com/g4QnF6YZBp— Spice DAO (@TheSpiceDAO) January 15, 2022Then it learned, too late, that in the U.S. and Europe, buying a manuscript of creative work does not grant the buyer its copyright too. SpiceDAO was ridiculed on Twitter, among other places, for its oversight. As Andrew Rossow, a technology attorney and Ohio law professor, told Cointelegraph in February:“The Spice DAO and Dune fiasco was a landmark in its own right that sends a very powerful message to everyone involved in the NFT space — creator or owner. The $3-million mistake that was made proved that intellectual property’s dominion in digital fine art is essential to its success and longevity.”Asked about needed clarifications, whether through laws or other means, Fairfield answered that people need to know the owner of an NFT owns the copy of the photograph or artwork, “just like we own a car or a painting or a book, and can sell it and capture its rise in value regardless of attempted restrictions hidden in license agreements.” “Right now, when people put millions of dollars into an NFT, they’re being told they don’t even own the right to capture the rise in value. That makes investment unsustainable,” he said. What is needed is “recognition that ownership of an NFT is an ordinary everyday ownership of personal property,” added Fairfield, further explaining:“It means NFTs pass to heirs after death. If an NFT is stolen, the owner can go to court to get it back. If an NFT is damaged or destroyed the owner can get its value from the person who did it. An owner knows that they will be able to capture the rise in value of the NFT if it turns out to be a good investment.”Rising fraud could prompt a crackdownSome believe that there are risks if governments get too aggressive with regulatory and legislative reforms in emerging technologies. “Government intervention into new technological arenas always creates a risk of misregulation that harms or hinders the development, especially when the technology is rapidly evolving or the government regulators don’t understand the technology,” noted Goldman. But, the status quo may not be sustainable here because at present, “NFTs are being used to perpetrate consumer fraud,” added Goldman. “When the fraud numbers are large enough, the government must intervene to protect consumers.”This, in turn, could lead to over-regulation. “Unfortunately, the fraudulent angles of NFTs have a real risk of overshadowing the activities of the legitimate NFT players. The legitimate players are potentially going to be hurt by government crackdowns even though they were doing the right thing all along,” Goldman said. Recent: Burdensome but not a threat: How new EU law can affect stablecoins“Such risks always exist, which is why intellectual property and marketing lawyers in this space hope that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Copyright Office, the Federal Trade Commission and/or legislators work closely with key industry stakeholders to understand the main legal challenges and the technology behind NFTs, and come up with workable solutions,” said Young. Naydonov added that “regulation and legislation without input from the industry could set the U.S. back as compared with other jurisdictions.” “People need to be educated”Bibby, however, sees no need for wholesale legal reform. What is required instead is “a discussion about what we currently know about NFT ownership,” she told Cointelegraph. People need to be educated and understand that a basic NFT purchase brings with it no copyright, trademark or patent rights — unless express language declares otherwise. She added:“Throughout modern history, laws have been tested by innovation and survived. The U.S. Constitution is a perfect example. The real need is to understand how existing intellectual property laws apply to recent innovations like virtual assets, including NFTs, virtual goods and the like.”Moreover, decisions in several pending court cases, including Nike v. StockX and Hermès v. MetaBirkins, will probably be sufficient to “resolve many of these outstanding questions,” Bibby told Cointelegraph.Meanwhile, the senators gave the USPTO and Copyright Office until June 9, 2023, to complete their study, but given the breathtaking speed at which NFTs and digital assets are being created and disseminated, the market itself might provide some answers before the agencies’ joint work ever sees the light of day.

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Mastercard files 15 metaverse and NFT related trademarks

Payments giant Mastercard has filed 15 nonfungible token (NFT) and metaverse trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO.Highlights of the filings include plans for a virtual community for interacting with digital assets, the processing of payment cards in the Metaverse, an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of downloadable digital goods, virtual reality events and more.One trademark filing for the company’s “Priceless” slogan consists of multimedia files such as artwork, text, audio and video that are authenticated by NFTs. Another application illustrates plans for its red and yellow “Circles” logo to process card transactions used for payment of goods and services in the Metaverse and other virtual worlds. An additional patent  intends to add the Mastercard name to cultural events, concerts, sporting events, festivals, and awards shows in the Metaverse, as well as to financial education seminars and programs.As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Mastercard added 500 new hires in February to consult with banks and merchants about adopting crypto-enabled technologies and NFTs. But it is not the only major fintech firm that is applying for NFT or metaverse trademarks. Visa and American Express have submitted their own crypto-related USPTO filings.Back in 2020, Visa first filed a patent application to create a digital currency and is currently developing a native digital currency on its card networks. In the case of American Express, there are seven applications related to its branding with virtual payment cards, concierge services in the metaverse and using its cards at an NFT marketplace. Additionally, these credit card companies have taken several initiatives to remain competitive within the virtual economy. While Mastercard created a three-month program, called Start Path Crypto, to help blockchain and crypto startups scale their businesses, Visa also launched its own Creator Program, to mentor entrepreneurs about NFTs to grow their small businesses.Related: MetaMask rolls out Apple Pay integration and other iOS updatesMastercard is part of the PCI Security Standards Council, or PCI SSC, made up of the major global credit card firms including American Express, Discover, Visa and JCB that operates to improve payment data security worldwide. Recently, Scallop, a regulated DeFi banking app joined the PCI SSC, with the intention of contributing DeFi-industry insights and recommending initiatives to the Council.

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Crypto patent-sharing marks a step in democratizing knowledge ownership

One of the hallmarks of the crypto industry since its inception has been its commitment to open source development as well as its transparency-centric ethos. This is best made evident by the fact that many prominent projects operating within the digital asset sector and decentralized finance (DeFi) arena today have essentially been derived from other prominent projects such as Bitcoin Cash, SushiSwap and many others.In this regard, the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a group that promotes the advancement of cryptocurrency-enabled technologies by removing patents as a barrier to growth and innovation, recently welcomed social media giant Meta as a member, with the latter vowing to make all of its crypto patents accessible to the world.To elaborate, Meta — formerly known as Facebook — published a statement announcing that by joining COPA, it will become one of the 30 firms committed to not enforcing their “core cryptocurrency patents.” On the subject, the alliance’s general manager, Max Sills, pointed out that core cryptocurrency patents refer to those technologies that allow for the “creation, mining, storage, transmission, settlement, integrity or security of cryptocurrencies.”The goal of the association is to accrue patents from its members to create a collective patent library that will help stimulate innovation within the global blockchain sector by reducing instances of patent litigation. Soon after the development came to light, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey applauded Meta’s decision, stating that the crypto market functions best when the interests of everyone (not just the wealthy) are considered.The market reacts to Meta’s moveAntoni Trenchev, co-founder and managing partner at Nexo, a cryptocurrency lending ecosystem, told Cointelegraph that Meta’s decision to join COPA shows that the multinational is up to something big — in the best way possible — adding:“The fact that the company is solidifying pathways to patenting crypto and blockchain technological innovations means it likely plans on making some such advancements of its own. That’s an auspicious outlook for the space, one that tells us Meta is getting into the very building blocks of our future on-chain life.”Igneus Terrenus, head of communications for cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, told Cointelegraph that the last few months have not been kind on Meta, referring primarily to its failed Diem project. In his eyes, however, the move to join COPA shows that the firm’s ambition within the burgeoning Web3 space has not yet died and that the company still fancies itself in the ranks of crypto’s “finance heavyweight elites.”A similar opinion was echoed by Humayun Sheikh, CEO and founder of Fetch.ai, an open-source decentralized machine learning platform, who believes that with Diem no longer Meta’s primary focus, the company is ready to explore other areas for its grand vision for the Metaverse. However, he noted:“The vision may sound appealing on paper but blockchain is an intensely contested space where companies will be keen to protect their patents. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether the vision could translate into adoption.”Harjyot Singh, technology director at HUMAN protocol, a blockchain-based hybrid framework for organizing, evaluating and compensating human labor, told Cointelegraph that while it is best to not jump the gun as to what Meta’s move may mean in the long run, the development is exciting nonetheless. “Meta joining the board of COPA indicates not only that they are interested but also genuinely keen on keeping the space open and collaborative,” he added.COPA’s potential impactWhen asked about what organizations like COPA can potentially achieve to help strengthen the crypto sector, Sheikh stated that while, on paper, the vision of such alliances may sound quite appealing, blockchain is an intensely contested space where companies will be keen to protect their patents. “Therefore, it remains to be seen whether the vision could translate into adoption,” he stated.He noted that blockchain technology has democratized access for those who were previously unable to benefit from a new digital economic model, adding that whenever a community builds a new technology it “must protect it by obtaining patent rights” and thus initiatives like COPA could be perceived as anti-competitive within the industry.Additionally, Terrenus believes that it doesn’t rest on COPA’s shoulders alone to keep the crypto industry transparent and open. However, he said that the firm has been doing its bit over the last many months, alluding particularly to the COPA v. Wright lawsuit. The alliance took legal action against Australian inventor Craig Wright who tried to copyright Bitcoin’s white paper in 2021, claiming that he was the asset’s pseudonymous inventor Satoshi Nakamoto. Terrenus stated:“With cryptocurrency and its adoption still in the early stages, there is much that has yet to be determined as to how organizations like COPA can support and contribute to the growth of the digital economy. In order for the industry to thrive, there is a need for constructive dialogues between regulators and experts to allow for innovation for the benefit of all.”While it would be easy to say that COPA has not done much, Singh believes that is most likely because there isn’t a huge problem with regard to patenting right now, especially given that the open-source culture of this still very young industry. “I imagine they’re planning for future growth, mainstream adoption and, particularly, for the introduction of the more legislatively minded Web 2.0 companies. That’s why Meta coming on board is interesting,” he added.Trenchev believes that the best way to ensure that COPA and its patenting system have palpable sway, authority and usage within the crypto industry is by garnering support and endorsement from key companies in blockchain:“COPA is still in the preliminary stages of its mission of bolstering technological development in the blockchain industry. The organization appears to be working on building a solid reputation and establishing its presence among big names in crypto and beyond which will enable it to facilitate tangible contributions to blockchain in the future.”COPA market clout continues to growIn addition to having onboarded Meta, COPA has also been quietly mustering mainstream support from a number of other prominent crypto projects. In this regard, the firm has been able to accrue the backing of trading platform Coinbase as well as United States-based payments provider Square.The organization has also entered into long-term partnerships with cryptocurrency exchanges like OKCoin and Kraken as well as Bitcoin- (BTC)-centric R&D group ChaincodeLabs. Not only that, the alliance recently welcomed Michael Saylor who led fintech giant MicroStrategy, DeFi exchange Uniswap and blockchain-based smart transaction platform Chia project to its board of members.That said, there is a possibility that smaller companies functioning and innovating within the blockchain space could feel threatened by COPA’s increasing market presence since the space was built largely by underdogs that have now grown into full-fledged unicorns and don’t want to lose their weight in the sector. Trenchev said:“What I would say to this is that innovation sprouts from competition and collaboration, so Meta’s quite clear indications of serious involvement in crypto will propel us all forward.”Therefore, as we move into a future driven by blockchain and crypto-enabled tech, it will be interesting to see how organizations like COPA are able to affect the development of this industry, especially as more mainstream entities continue to enter the space with each passing day.

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Meta joins patent alliance, pledges free crypto patents for all

The Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) has welcomed Meta as a member, with the social media giants vowing to make its core crypto patents accessible to all.Meta, formerly Facebook, has joined the COPA, a group that advocates for public patents on crypto and blockchain-related technologies. On Monday, the organization published a statement announcing Meta and noting that Shayne O’Reilly would be its representative.By joining COPA, Meta will become one of 30 other businesses committed to not enforcing their “core cryptocurrency patents.” The general manager of COPA, Max Sills, describes “core cryptocurrency patents” as any “technology that allows the creation, mining, storage, transmission, settlement, integrity, or security of cryptocurrencies.”By forming an association and requiring member firms to contribute their patents to a collective patent library, COPA hopes to stimulate blockchain innovation by lowering the risk of patent litigation.Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, commended the development on Twitter stating that “this is great.” Dorsey has declared several times that the crypto market is best served when everyone’s interests are accommodated, not just those of the wealthy.This is great https://t.co/VhwdhzaQja— jack⚡️ (@jack) January 31, 2022For years, Meta’s interest in the cryptocurrency market has been obvious. The decision to join COPA follows Meta’s Diem project officially shutting down. Meta is also reportedly selling the project to Silvergate Bank for $200 million. In addition, Meta also owns Novi, a digital wallet company that was formerly known as Calibra and was started as part of the project named Libra, now Diem.Related: Zuckerberg’s Diem reportedly weighing sale after stablecoin plans falterLast year, COPA sued Australian Craig Wright, better known for his widely disputed claim to be the inventor of Bitcoin, over his attempts to copyright the Bitcoin (BTC) white paper – an issue that has plagued the crypto community for years.

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