Ornella Hernandez

The latest automotive business with moves in the metaverse is German company Mercedes-Benz Group AG.



The company has recently filed for five metaverse and NFT-related trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).



The five applications for “Mercedes Benz, Mercedes, S-Class, G-Class, and Maybach” establish trademark protection for any future NFT collections, marketplaces for NFTs and virtual vehicle parts as well as to enable cryptocurrency trading.



One trademark filing for the company’s “Maybach” model <a href="https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=toc&amp;state=4810%3A276xi2.1.1&amp;p_search=searchss&amp;p_L=50&amp;BackReference=&amp;p_plural=yes&amp;p_s_PARA1=&amp;p_tagrepl%7E%3A=PARA1%24LD&amp;expr=PARA1+AND+PARA2&amp;p_s_PARA2=mercedes+benz+nft&amp;p_tagrepl%7E%3A=PARA2%24ALL&amp;p_op_ALL=AND&amp;a_default=search&amp;a_search=Submit+Query&amp;a_search=Submit+Query" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">described</a> plans for “crypto-collectibles” featuring digital or physical animal furs, blankets, carpets, rugs and mats.



Another filing for its “S-Class” model <a href="https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=toc&amp;state=4810%3A276xi2.1.1&amp;p_search=searchss&amp;p_L=50&amp;BackReference=&amp;p_plural=yes&amp;p_s_PARA1=&amp;p_tagrepl%7E%3A=PARA1%24LD&amp;expr=PARA1+AND+PARA2&amp;p_s_PARA2=mercedes+benz+nft&amp;p_tagrepl%7E%3A=PARA2%24ALL&amp;p_op_ALL=AND&amp;a_default=search&amp;a_search=Submit+Query&amp;a_search=Submit+Query" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> it may have “audio recordings, video recordings, image files, music, and multimedia files containing artwork, text, audio, images, or video featuring collectible items authenticated by NFTs.”



These NFTs “featuring digital art” or a “representing a collectible item,” according to the applications, are “for use in online virtual worlds” in reference to metaverse platforms.&nbsp;



This isn’t Mercedes’ first foray with blockchain, as it has already <a href="https://group.mercedes-benz.com/innovation/blockchain-2.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tested</a> out implementing the technology to ensure consistent documentation of contracts along the supply chain.



Earlier this year, Mercedes subsidiary Daimler South East Asia <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/22/07/28249232/mercedes-benz-and-polygon-to-develop-a-platform-for-data-exchange" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">developed</a> a blockchain-based data-sharing platform built on Polygon. The platform allows users to exchange data such as insurance information or clinical trials with other businesses. 



Additionally, the company’s Formula One Racing team Mercedes-AMG Petronas had a partnership with crypto exchange FTX. It suspended the sponsorship and removed the FTX logo from race cars after its <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/5-highlights-ftx-bankruptcy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing</a> in November.



Mercedes-AMG Petronas and FTX had also released a line of NFTs collectibles for the Miami Grand Prix, with free-to-claim limited edition ticket stubs for the race on the now-defunct <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ftx-nftx-are-mia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FTX NFT marketplace</a>.



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Mercedes-Benz Hints at Metaverse, NFT Plans in Trademark Filing

Bessie Liu

<div id="highlights-block_6358312e18d07" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Recent trademark filings could imply that Western Union wants to launch its own virtual currency exchange and cryptocurrency token</li>
 <li>The financial services company has plans to expand offerings into managing and administering digital assets</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Western Union has filed crypto-related trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis <a href="https://twitter.com/KondoudisLaw/status/1584882175127613440" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>.&nbsp;



The <a href="https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=97641182&amp;caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&amp;caseType=SERIAL_NO&amp;searchType=statusSearch" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">applications</a> made by Western Union imply that the company intends to launch its very own virtual currency exchange and cryptocurrency token. The financial services company also has plans to expand into managing and administering digital assets.



<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="550" data-dnt="true"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WesternUnion?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WesternUnion</a> has filed 3 trademark applications claiming plans for ▶️ Financial + Banking + Insurance ▶️ Virtual currency exchange + transfer ▶️ Commodity and Crypto trading + brokerage ▶️ Issuing tokens of value …and much more<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Web3?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Web3</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Metaverse?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Metaverse</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cryptocurrency?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cryptocurrency</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NFT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NFT</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DeFi?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DeFi</a> <a href="https://t.co/YvKysvj3mq">pic.twitter.com/YvKysvj3mq</a>&mdash; Mike Kondoudis (@KondoudisLaw) <a href="https://twitter.com/KondoudisLaw/status/1584882175127613440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 25, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Until now, Western Union has been relatively cautious about entering blockchain technology.&nbsp;



In December 2018, former Western Union Global Money Transfer President Odilon Almeida <a href="https://www.westernunion.com/blog/en/blockchain/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> adding cryptocurrencies as a customer option would be a big reach, as digital assets had not yet mastered governance, compliance and volatility and received global acceptance.



Added Almeida: “Cryptocurrency might become one more option for a way for assets to be exchanged between people and countries. If that happens, we would be ready to launch.”



It seems that now, four years later, the growing adoption of blockchain technology — alongside the increased competition in the international money transfer space — has finally pushed the financial services giant to tap crypto markets.&nbsp;



Earlier this year, centralized crypto exchange Coinbase had <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-launches-crypto-remittance-pilot-for-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">begun trialing</a> a remittance program for recipients in Mexico, challenging the market dominated by Western Union.&nbsp;



Coinbase claimed its services were <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-launches-crypto-remittance-pilot-for-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">significantly</a> cheaper than traditional cross-border payments and was looking to expand its services globally to the world’s 1.7 billion underbanked.



Even so, Western Union remains one of the <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/05/09/2438800/0/en/39-8-Billion-Global-Digital-Remittance-Market-Size-Share-Forecast-by-2028-Market-is-Fueled-by-Rising-Banking-Financial-Services-and-Insurance-Globally-Historic-Data-Industry-Emergi.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">biggest players </a>in the global remittance industry, and Almeida has held onto the belief that “[Western Union is] better positioned to benefit from the crypto-currency movement in the long-term than any start-up.”



“Western Union is already better equipped to solve for such variables because it already moves money across 130 currencies and devotes substantial resources to all of those three challenges,” he said.



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Western Union Trademark Filings Signal Crypto, Web3 Exploration

Shalini Nagarajan

<div id="highlights-block_630f30b53f339" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The World Intellectual Property Organization said the disputed name is simply an abbreviation of the crypto firm’s service</li>
 <li>Still, privacy-focused crypto startup DKYC is now rebranding its website to “ShadowFi” </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Crypto startup Don’t Know Your Customer has managed to avoid a cybersquatting complaint put forth by accounting giant Deloitte over its domain name.



Deloitte offers a service for Know-Your-Customer operations called <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/lu/en/pages/financial-advisory/solutions/deloitte-kyc.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DKYC</a>, which involves due diligence via document collection. 



But the mega-firm took issue with web design firm Penultimate Media Systems registering a version of that name as <a href="https://dontkyc.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dontkyc.com</a> for its crypto client — a startup offering prepaid cards pitched as a way to spend certain Binance Chain tokens in the real-world without having to disclose personal information.



A recent <a href="https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/pdf/2022/d2022-1775.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">decision</a> by the World Intellectual Property Organization, shared by <a href="https://domainnamewire.com/2022/08/30/crypto-company-defeats-deloitte-in-cybersquatting-dispute/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Domain Name Wire</a>, showed Deloitte failed to establish that the disputed name was used by the crypto firm illicitly, highlighting that the domain name is not dkyc.com, but dontkyc.com.



The issue for Deloitte was that the domain name is “highly similar” to its trademark and that the crypto firm offered financial services under its identical “DKYC” sign, according to the document. It also noted the crypto firm does not identify as an active company or provide a valid postal address on its website.



Deloitte argued that the crypto startup had made multiple references with fraudulent intentions to “DKYC,” but not using “dontkyc” — which is reflected in the disputed domain name.&nbsp;



The domain owner was accommodating in turn, saying it’s ready to modify branding and change references to “DKYC” if that would help the case. It claimed to have searched the US Patent and Trademark Office for the disputed domain name prior to registration with no results. It later learned DKYC was registered in other territories.



The <a href="https://dontkyc.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">website</a>, as of Wednesday, showed DKYC is rebranding to “ShadowFi.&#8221; The startup describes itself as a small community-based non-profit token operating on the Binance Smart Chain, promising an absence of KYC measures in order to ensure privacy. “Our vendor doesn’t know who we are, and we don’t know who you are. No ID required. Ever,” states its website.



WIPO’s sole panelist Adam Taylor said Deloitte still has the option to take the crypto firm to court for infringement of intellectual property rights, if it believes there is sufficient ground to do so.



Representatives for Deloitte, DKYC and Penultimate Media didn’t return Blockworks’ request for comment by press time.



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Crypto Startup Clashes With Deloitte Over Domain — And Wins

Jack Kubinec

David Canellis

<div id="highlights-block_62d1b9e0ae9b0" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The removal included non-trademarked domains flagged by the RIAA</li>
 <li>OpenSea continues to err on the side of caution following intellectual property claims</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The same week OpenSea <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/opensea-lays-off-20-of-staff/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">laid off 20% of its workforce</a>, the top NFT marketplace removed several music-themed Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domain auctions after receiving a cease and desist letter from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).



The letter argued that a number of OpenSea-hosted ENS auctions were in violation of US trademark law, although not all of the domain names contain trademarked material.&nbsp;



OpenSea complied with the letter, continuing the centralized NFT (non-fungible token) exchange’s precedent of honoring copyright complaints.



ENS domains serve as unique website addresses, ending in “.eth.” Similar to how the internet’s Domain Name Service replaces IP addresses with strings of characters, ENS domains can be used to access websites hosted on decentralized storage solution IPFS.&nbsp;



They can also substitute complicated Ethereum blockchain addresses, allowing users to receive cryptocurrency via their domains. Registrations for ENS domains can be <a href="https://docs.ens.domains/dapp-developer-guide/ens-as-nft" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">transferred</a> by NFTs, which denote ownership and enable trading on marketplaces such as OpenSea.&nbsp;



In the RIAA’s letter, <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/images/opensea-takedown.txt" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">posted online by TorrentFreak</a>, the trade association provides a list of .eth domains it believes violate the 1999 <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-106srpt140/html/CRPT-106srpt140.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Anti Cyber-Squatting Consumer Protection Act</a>. The law prevents the creation of web domains containing trademarks with “bad-faith intent to profit.”



ENS domains have been popular of late, with 000.eth <a href="https://twitter.com/Blockworks_/status/1544323581026439178" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">selling for $328,000 last week</a>.



The RIAA flagged “universalmusic.eth” and “atlanticrecords.eth” as breaking the law alongside dozens more. Both ENS domains are owned by the same <a href="https://etherscan.io/tokenholdings?a=0xd67d9e817aa9a1e4d00568e9445a9e6d0dd18c8b" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">address</a>, which paid $5 for each domain in 2020. They’ve also acquired a swath of domains tied to popular brands including Columbia Records, Sony Entertainment, Subpop and Capitol Records, among others.



The trade group also objected to domains titled for individual music industry executives like mitchglazier.eth and robstringer.eth, CEOs of the RIAA and Sony Music, respectively. Both domains are owned by the same blockchain <a href="https://etherscan.io/tokenholdings?a=0xa59fe57ddcb393dd3dcaa2ba2766e10d4f38e339" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">address</a>, which paid $5 and $15, respectively.



Neither name appears in the US Patent and Trademark Office <a href="https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=login&amp;p_lang=english&amp;p_d=trmk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">database</a>, although the owner has also registered named ENS domains for celebrity figures such as WWE billionaire Vince McMahon, Pink Floyd superstar Syd Barrett and Columbia Records CEO Ron Perry.



Jeffrey Blockinger, general counsel at Web3 startup Quadrata, told Blockworks in an email that OpenSea’s initial reaction to the RIAA letter indicates Web3 companies are “becoming aware of traditional property rights and the value their protection can add to the development of NFTs as an asset class.”



“It is encouraging to see a company in an emerging industry implement takedown procedures that appear designed to protect [intellectual property] rights in a way that reflects responsible behaviors in more traditional asset classes,” Blockinger said.



OpenSea regularly errs on the side of caution with intellectual property complaints. The NFT marketplace <a href="https://snobette.com/2021/12/metabirkins-nft-removed-opensea-following-hermes-cease-and-desist/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">removed</a> a collection of Hermes handbag digital collectibles in December following opposition from the upscale fashion company.&nbsp;



Earlier this year, free expression activist Jillian York <a href="https://therecord.media/jillian-york-nft-stole-my-face/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">asked</a> OpenSea to remove an NFT of her face posted without her consent, and OpenSea complied.



NFTs are popular in the music industry, as <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/heres-how-nfts-could-disrupt-a-heavily-centralized-music-industry/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">streaming has made it difficult for artists to monetize their music</a>. Snoop Dogg, BTS and Steve Aoki each released NFT collections for fans this year.&nbsp;



Institutional players seem to be moving toward Web3, too. Yesterday, a Universal Music Group affiliate partnered with Moonpay to allow the Bored Ape collectors band KINGSHIP fans to mint NFTs.



OpenSea and the RIAA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.



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