Basketball star Stephen Curry has filed a trademark application for ‘Curryverse’ with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Office of Patents and Trademarks
Curry, the NBA’s Golden State Warriors’ point guard, has authorized his legal counsel to submit a trademark application that includes a variety of digital goods and services to be supplied through the metaverse, according to Attorney Josh Gerben of Gerben Intellectual Property.
The patent application, which was filed on October 26, states that the services will include “personal and virtual and metaversal appearances by a professional basketball player, philanthropist, business person, entertainer, actor, and producer,” as well as “providing online games in which players can earn non-fungible tokens, digital tokens, or application tokens.” According to the petition, other entertainment services to be supplied include “online games in which players may earn non-fungible, digital tokens, or application tokens for exchange, trade, sale, or purchase in an online marketplace.”
According to statistics from the World Intellectual Property Organization’s IP site, the application’s status is “Live/Pending” as of November 1.
The item states, “New application will be assigned to an examining attorney about 3 months from filing date.”
The newest development comes as an increasing number of sportsmen and leagues go into the NFT market and metaverse in search of new cash streams. The Premier League, the highest division of England’s professional soccer league, is apparently planning a collaboration with NFT fantasy soccer game Sorare for up to £30 million ($34.6 million) every year.
The Premier League’s 20 teams will be allowed to sell NFTs featuring digital renderings of famous sportsmen such as Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane, and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, among others, under the prospective multi-year agreement.
The development of sports-themed NFTs has also benefitted Curry’s league, the NBA. NBA Top Shot is a virtual trading card platform constructed on the FLOW blockchain and legally licensed by the NBA Players Association. It was created by Dapper Labs, the same company that created CryptoKitties. NBA Top Shot NFTs are short films that showcase famous slam dunks, three-pointers, and other exciting game moments termed “Moments.” NBA Top Shot allegedly had a market valuation of more than $1.1 billion in March 2022.
