Key Takeaways:
- The English Premier League (EPL), one of the world’s most popular sports leagues, is the newest unit to enter the metaverse, with filings at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
- The Premier League has filed two trademark applications for its title, its “lion head” logo, and its “a loving cup trophy” logo, indicating its intent to join the metaverse and the sphere of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
- The trademark application was filed on June 1, 2022, and the USPTO affirmed that it met all of the requirements.
The Premier League, also widely recognized as the English Premier League has filed for cryptocurrency and NFT trademarks. It is regarded as the pinnacle of the English football league system.
In a tweet on June 6, Mike Kondoudis, a licensed trademark legal professional at the USPTO, announces that the Premier League has filed two trademark applications with the USPTO. The Premier League aims to cover a wide range of crypto classes, including NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and collectibles related to digital tokens. Moreover, it seems that the soccer league allows for the purchase and sale of digital assets, also understood as digital asset buying and selling.
The trademarks of the Football Association Premier League are made up of two different logos. The one with serial number 97438136 is outlined as “a three-quarter view of the head of a lion wearing a crown,” while the other with serial number 97438169 is defined as “a loving cup trophy with a crown on top and a lion on each side.”
The Premier League intends to provide the following services, per the applications filed with the USPTO on June 1st:
- Image, video, music, and audio files that have been NFT-authenticated.
- Software for facilitating cryptocurrency-based blockchain-based financial transactions.
- Virtual reality and augmented reality software is used to create virtual reality experiences.
- NFT marketplace and cryptocurrency exchange services are available online.
- Trading of virtual currency on a financial exchange.
- Footwear, clothing, headwear, sportswear, and football shirts are all virtual.
- Users can interact in virtual environments.
- Users can create hosted blockchain-based NFT stores by opening online retail stores.
Furthermore, the Premier League indicates to be in charge of monetary and crypto services for clubs, soccer players, officers, and others. as the use of cryptocurrency grows among golfers and gamers Soccer golf equipment and cryptocurrency firms have been increasing their sponsorship and business offers.
Arsenal Football Club, a Premier League team, recently teamed up with Unagi to develop an NFT-based play-to-earn game. Users can exchange NFTs with other game players. Manchester City and PUMA also collaborated to create NFTs commemorating the legendary ’93:20′ moment.
While Premier League soccer clubs continue to enter into agreements with crypto businesses and use NFTs for fan interest and audience engagement, the UK’s regulatory environment is becoming increasingly confrontational to crypto. The ban on crypto advertising imposed by the Advertising Standards Authority forced many golf courses to remove their crypto advertisements. The authority outlawed Arsenal Soccer Membership’s advertisement.
However, as evidenced by the constant influx of NFT and metaverse-related trademark filings, football is currently one of the sports most directly implicated with technological advances and the virtual world.