
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>McDonald’s is the latest to file trademark applications for virtual goods, services and even virtual restaurants and cafes, leaning into a growing trend of major corporations preparing for a potential wave of virtual reality marketplaces spearheaded by Meta, parent company of Facebook, and its envisioned virtual world, the metaverse.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>Josh Gerben, a trademark lawyer whose firm tracks new trademark filings on a daily basis, first made note of the requests on&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/JoshGerben/status/1491449758967562240?s=20&amp;t=ZDw6PsET58Dh4Ak0KRm_gg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter</a>&nbsp;Wednesday, pointing out 10 applications filed by McDonald’s.</p>



<p>The McDonald’s&nbsp;<a href="https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&amp;state=4807:439nvi.2.2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filings</a>, listed February 4, request to trademark, among other things, “Operating a virtual restaurant featuring actual and virtual goods,” and “operating a virtual restaurant online featuring home delivery.”</p>



<p>It also aims to&nbsp;<a href="https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&amp;state=4808:ej2v89.2.1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trademark</a>&nbsp;“on-line actual and virtual concerts” and other entertainment services within its virtual McCafe.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>The requests follow Panera Bread’s February 3&nbsp;<a href="https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&amp;state=4808:4noh1d.9.1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filing</a>&nbsp;for the “Paneraverse,” a request from the bakery company to trademark its downloadable, virtual food and beverage items “for use in virtual worlds,” along with NFTs and the option to purchase actual goods in the virtual world to be delivered.</p>



<p>McDonald’s and Panera Bread are the latest to prepare for a potential virtual establishment revolution, joining major corporations like <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/02/nike-is-quietly-preparing-for-the-metaverse-.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nike</a>, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/16/walmart-is-quietly-preparing-to-enter-the-metaverse.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Walmart</a> and <a href="https://boardroom.tv/skechers-metaverse-trademarks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sketchers</a>, who have all made similar filings in the past three months.</p>



<p>“When you see this critical mass of large companies making this many new trademark filings, it’s very clear this is coming,” Gerben told&nbsp;<em>Forbes.</em></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



<p>“I think you’re going to see every brand that you can think of make these filings within the next 12 months,” Gerben added. “I don’t think anyone wants to be the next Blockbuster and just completely ignore a new technology that’s coming.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="tangent">TANGENT</h2>



<p>“Panera is always working to be at the forefront of tech advancement,” George Hanson, the company’s chief digital officer, said in a statement to&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>. “As a brand we are consistently looking for new ways to better our guest experience, whether in our cafes or in the metaverse.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>These requests often take the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office eight to nine months to review, according to Gerben, though he says McDonalds should have no troubles getting the trademarks approved. While the Metaverse is not the only virtual world in which these trademarks can be used, Meta appears to be leaning more heavily into its vision of a virtual world (see its October <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisakim/2021/10/28/facebook-announces-new-name-meta/?sh=2465b42b7f83">name change</a>) than any other major technology company, and it is seeing results. According to Meta’s fourth quarter <a href="https://s21.q4cdn.com/399680738/files/doc_financials/2021/q4/FB-12.31.2021-Exhibit-99.1-Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">earnings report,</a> the company pulled in more $800 million in revenue from “Reality Labs,” its division that includes its augmented and virtual reality-related consumer hardware like the Oculus, the company’s widely popular VR headset used to access the metaverse.</p>



<p><strong><em>By Mason Bissada, Forbes Staff</em></strong></p>


Daily Life In Edmonton During The Covid-19 Pandemic

McDonald’s Files Trademark For Metaverse-Based ‘Virtual Restaurant’


<p><strong>TOPLINE</strong> Fast food giant McDonald’s has started accepting bitcoin as a form of payment in El Salvador after the country became the first to adopt the cryptocurrency as legal tender Tuesday.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>California-based bitcoin payment processor OpenNode confirmed to&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;it has formed a partnership with McDonald’s to allow it to begin accepting bitcoin (<em>Editor&#8217;s Note:</em>&nbsp;OpenNode earlier told&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;that Panda Express was also using bitcoin, but has since said that was an error and we have clarified the piece).</p>



<p>Bitcoin can now be used to pay at all 19 McDonald’s locations in the country, as well as online and through the delivery app, OpenNode said.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Though this appears to be the first major American company to adjust to El Salvador’s cryptocurrency initiative, OpenNode spokesperson Ryan Flowers said his team is “currently onboarding multiple multi-billion dollar businesses based in El Salvador.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



<p>“Just walked into a McDonald’s in San Salvador to see if I could pay for my breakfast with bitcoin … fully expecting to be told no,” cryptocurrency journalist Aaron van Wirdum wrote in a tweet Tuesday morning. “But low and behold.”&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just walked into a McDonald&#39;s in San Salvador to see if I could pay for my breakfast with bitcoin, tbh fully expecting to be told no.<br><br>But low and behold, they printed a ticket with QR that took me to a webpage with Lightning invoice, and now I&#39;m enjoying my desayuno traditional! <a href="https://t.co/NYCkMNbv7U">pic.twitter.com/NYCkMNbv7U</a></p>&mdash; Aaron van Wirdum (@AaronvanW) <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronvanW/status/1435236902274220040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND&nbsp;</h2>



<p>El Salvador on Tuesday became the first sovereign government to adopt bitcoin as legal tender alongside its existing currency, the U.S. dollar. It allows the country’s residents to pay taxes and other debts using bitcoin, and for businesses to widen their payment options to the cryptocurrency. However, El Salvador’s proclaimed “Bitcoin Day” got off to a rocky start as the cryptocurrency market&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/09/07/crypto-flash-crash-wipes-out-400-billion-in-market-value-on-el-salvadors-bitcoin-day/?sh=3fd3b7154fb9">plunged</a>, with the price of bitcoin falling from over $52,000 to $42,830, its lowest level in nearly three weeks on Tuesday morning. Bitcoin recovered to just under $46,957 by 1:45 EDT, still 9% below a day earlier.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING&nbsp;</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/09/07/el-salvador-taps-billionaire-backed-bitcoin-unicorn-in-the-cryptocurrencys-historic-legal-tender-debut/?sh=42a359be4fac">“El Salvador Taps billionaire-Backed Bitcoin Unicorn In Historic Legal Tender Debut”</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)&nbsp;</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/09/07/crypto-flash-crash-wipes-out-400-billion-in-market-value-on-el-salvadors-bitcoin-day/?sh=3fd3b7154fb9">“Crypto Flash Crash Wipes Out $400 Billion In Market Value On Bitcoin Day Before El Salvador’s President ‘Buys The Dip’”</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>


Tag: McDonalds

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McDonald’s Files Trademark For Metaverse-Based ‘Virtual Restaurant’

McDonald’s Starts Accepting Bitcoin In El Salvador