Cooke and Cohen USPTO Could Require More Information for NFT Trademarks
Managing IP
Partners Michelle Cooke and Elizabeth Cohen were quoted on the potential for the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to require more detailed information about NFT trademarks as the NFT space becomes more crowded.
Michelle raised the possibility that for NFTs the USPTO might take a similar approach as with “software” where the USPTO requires more specifics.
“That allows the office to bisect things much more finely, and it will be interesting if they try to do the same with NFTs as the space gets increasingly crowded,” Michelle said.
Elizabeth suggested that significant changes in NFT trademark regulations could take time since much of the technology behind NFTs and the Metaverse is still new.
“According to the news, some days NFTs are dead, and some days they’ve been resurrected,” said Elizabeth, “so I don’t think they’re willing to make final distinctions until we get some years under our belt to see what happens.”
Elizabeth also noted that one issue particularly relevant to applicants dealing with virtual products, such as avatars purchasing brand-licensed items, is what would happen to these virtual items when a license expires, which remains unclear.
Michelle and Elizabeth co-lead the firm’s IP Enforcement Task Force, created to tackle legal and technical challenges associated with the enforcement of intellectual property rights in the Metaverse and blockchain applications.
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