McDonald's files Metaverse-related trademark applications for 'virtual' restaurant experience

McDonald’s has staked their claim in the virtual landscape by filing the legal paperwork that affirms their ownership of virtual goods in the sprawling Metaverse dream being pioneered by Mark Zuckerberg.

According to Forbes, the fast food giant has filed trademark applications for the virtual reality space. The renewed mainstream interest in the subject came amid Facebook's "Meta" rebranding of their parent company.

The outlet also mentions that – despite the "eight to nine months" of review time – big name corporations like McDonalds or Panera Bread are likely to have their trademarks approved.

The February 4 filings request to trademark, among other things, "Operating a virtual restaurant featuring actual and virtual goods," and "operating a virtual restaurant online featuring home delivery," and also looks to trademark "on-line actual and virtual concerts" and other entertainment services within its virtual McCafe.

Walmart last month filed trademark application paperwork for a similar scheme where shoppers could virtually interface with a store to purchase goods or services.

Panera Bread has also filed similar trademark applications for the "Paneraverse," which according to Forbes is 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 physical goods in the virtual world to be delivered to their home.

NFTs are mentioned alongside trademark claims for "virtual food and beverage products" items. But the other highlights of the filings include "entertainment services" that go as far as virtual concerts and other such events. In addition, they outline claims for "operating a virtual restaurant featuring actual and virtual goods."

This isn't the first time that McDonald's has had this kind of tech story pop up. Back in 2013, it was discovered that Sony filed a patent for interactive ads where the user could shout "MCDONALD'S" to end a commercial.

McDonald's publicly leaned into the virtual space with a commercial last month that celebrates the Chinese New Year. The work of fashion designer Humberto Leon is available for 3D viewing in the AltspaceVR and Spatial platforms until February 15th.

Facebook recently faced a massive stock decline alongside reports of their user base shrinking for the first time on record. With that news it was said that Meta's focus on virtual reality was a substantial financial drain on the company coffers.

Zuckerberg first bought Oculus VR company in 2014 and in doing so acquired one of the leading players of virtual reality technology at the time. With the recent rebranding of Facebook into Meta, Oculus as a namesake has been integrated into that system.

While attempting to cautiously pioneer into the virtual reality space, Meta's "Horizon Worlds" experience had an anonymous female beta tester claiming they were "virtually groped" by a fellow player.