Nike goes virtual

Metaverse is in the spotlight worldwide due to the large-scale announcement of Facebook. However, Facebook is not the only company investing in the virtual world. Many clothing companies in particular are looking closely at this.

Clothing companies? Of course. Fitting clothes by means of 'implemented reality' will save you time, but it goes much further with the sale of virtual shoes, bags and clothing in, for example, games and as NFT’s. Your avatar is often a personification of yourself. It is therefore more than logical that your avatar is wearing your favorite shoes.

It is therefore only natural that there is a store in Decentraland (a virtual world) when things are sold, right? The virtual possibilities are endless.

However, a virtual shoe is slightly different from a normal shoe and the description of the products and services in a trademark registration does not always include these products. Particularly in the case of completely new products, the product description can sometimes run into problems with trademark authorities who find these descriptions too vague. That is why it is wise that as a trademark owner you always consult the legal department with this type of product extensions.

Nike is a good example of a company that has recently protected its new virtual products through new registrations. We see that Tommy Hilfiger has also submitted an application for, among other things, virtual goods. This European application is still under examination. So it remains to be seen how the EUIPO will assess these virtual product descriptions. Hopefully with a somewhat broad view, because virtual goods are here to stay.