China Sees Applications for 16,000 Metaverse Trademarks

The Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) said that the country has seen 16,000 trademark applications filed, encapsulating the term ‘metaverse.’

The CNIPA has been outspoken in its opposition to malicious trademark registrations, particularly when the company is attempting to amass trademarks for no apparent reason. The office also stated that applicants should follow the relevant provisions of the “Trademark Law” when applying for registered trademarks. They must also follow the principle of good faith, not endangering the public’s interest or disrupting the trademark registration order.

Is China ‘Anti-Metaverse’?

Several metaverse-related trademark applications were denied by China, including those submitted by NetEase, iQiyi, and Xiaohongshu. The rejection was made to prevent abuse of the registration process, which occurred last year due to an influx of applications.

Multiple trademark applications containing the word “yuan yuzhou,” which means “metaverse” in Mandarin, were denied by the National Intellectual Property Administration. China’s intellectual property regulator dealt with the burgeoning metaverse-related applications while also preventing trademark’squatting,’ which occurs when a trademark is obtained by someone other than the original brand owner.

“What I see is the government encouraging enterprises with genuine technological capability to enter the metaverse arena,” Chen Gaojie of tech research firm PatSnap told the SCMP.

The metaverse has been dubbed “attractive and deceptive” by Chinese authorities, who have warned of the dangers of fraud. The Chinese Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a notice highlighting the burgeoning metaverse space as a primary target for scammers looking to raise money illegally and entice investors with high returns.

In addition, following the countrywide ban on cryptos, the People’s Bank of China plans to use AML tools to crack down on NFTs and the metaverse. Given the recent increase in numbers, PBoC is likely to intensify its efforts to rein in the space.

Applications Pour in Despite Rejections

The Chinese government’s repeated rejections of metaverse trademark submissions and warnings haven’t deterred companies from filing applications. Instead, compared to 2021, there has been a significant increase in metaverse filings. The big question is how many of them will be approved.

The number of metaverse-related trademark applications in China has reached 16,000, according to a local media report, as the frenzy over what some consider the next iteration of the internet continues despite government warnings over “market hype”.

According to business and trademark registration tracking firm Tianyancha, this figure – reported by Shanghai-based Thepaper.cn, citing data from the National Intellectual Property Administration – is nearly double the number recorded two months ago, when the country had a total of 8,534 metaverse-related trademark applications.

Tencent, NetEase, ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, and Alibaba are the front-runners in this space. The repeated filings highlight the country’s potential for metaverse growth. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the metaverse market will grow at a rate of 13% per year to $1.5 trillion by 2030. Morgan Stanley has estimated the total addressable market for the metaverse to be worth $8 trillion.

Given China’s rapid expansion of the NFT and metaverse space, government approval is likely to be fraught with difficulties for tech companies. To avoid the possibility of fraud, it will be even more stringent.

The China Mobile Communications Association on Metaverse Consensus Circle – a new state-backed organization with over a hundred members – has issued a guideline stating that market speculation and bubbles must be avoided.

“Illegal financial activities, such as fabricating fake metaverse investment projects and issuing metaverse virtual currencies, should be resisted,” said the statement, which was posted on the group’s official website.

Furthermore, Alibaba Group Holding filed 31 metaverse trademark applications through its Singapore subsidiary in September, including some tied to the company’s name and business units, including Alibaba Cloud, Taobao, and DingTalk. The South China Morning Post is owned by Alibaba.

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– You could see How To Register Trademark in China here.

– You could visit here to see Procedure of Trademark in China.

– You could visit here to check Required documents of filing trademark in China.

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