International payment system Mastercard filed applications for 15 trademarks. These include NFT-based media, digital goods marketplaces and metaverse payment transaction processing, and e-commerce software.
Trademark applications were filed on Form 1b, which implies an intention to “fairly use” them in the future. This form does not require the collection of evidence that the trademark is being used by others, unlike Form 1a, which is for “actual use”.
Other payment systems are also interested in cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens. Visa bought Crypto Punk’s NFT collection for $150,000 in 2021. And another payment company, American Express, last month began trademarking “downloadable computer software for transferring a virtual payment card to an electronic mobile wallet.”
Visa and Mastercard suspend all transactions in Russia
