Fifteen trademark applications have been filed to register Mastercard’s name, its “Circles” logo and “Priceless” slogan.
The trademark applications were filed on April 4.
The marks cover NFTs and payment transactions in the metaverse.
This is the latest move by Mastercard to expand its reach on the Web3.
Mastercard has filed 15 new trademarks for its name, its “Circles” logo and the famous “priceless” tagline, signaling its intention to offer financial services in the metaverse. The trademark applications were filed on April 4 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
The goods and services covered by the marks include:
- Providing virtual environments in which users can interact for recreational, educational, networking, shopping, leisure or entertainment purposes.
- Creating and hosting an online community for digital assets, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), metaverses and virtual worlds
- Provision of an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of downloadable digital goods and media authenticated by non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
- Promotion of third-party goods and services through coupons, discounts, advertisements, rewards, incentives and loyalty programs in the metaverse and other virtual worlds, generated in connection with the use of credit and debit cards
- Promotion of cultural events, charity events, sporting events, travel experiences, dining events, festivals, award ceremonies and special events of others in the metaverse and other virtual worlds
- Processing virtual credit card, virtual debit card, virtual prepaid card and virtual payment card transactions in the metaverse and other virtual worlds.
This is the latest move by Mastercard as it prepares to operate in the metaverse. Mastercard’s first foray into Web3 was with its partnership with Coinbase, followed by another partnership with NFT analytics platform bitsCrunch, announced on April 6.
“It is clear that Mastercard sees the potential of the metaverse and is preparing its trademarks and branding for the virtual economy that will dominate it,” Mr. Kondoudis added. “It’s a safe bet that Mastercard expects to be a major player in that virtual economy.”
Other credit card services that have entered the Web3 space include Visa, which recently launched its Visa Creators program to help creators build their businesses through NFTs.
American Express filed similar trademarks last month, signaling its intention to bring its services into the metaverse or create new ones.
Washington DC-based trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis commented:
“Perhaps the most interesting thing about these filings is that they appear to continue a recent trend of NFT and metaverse trademark filings by the financial services industry.”
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