In what could mark another top athlete’s venture into digital assets, basketball player Stephen Curry recently registered a trademark application for ‘Curryverse’ with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Curry, who currently plays for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and is the team’s point guard, instructed his legal representatives to file a trademark application that comprises a range of digital assets and services to be provided via the metaverse, Attorney Josh Gerben of Gerben Intellectual Property told sports industry news site SportsTiger.com.
Filed on October 26, the patent application states that the provided 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”. Other entertainment services to be provided include “online games in which players can earn non-fungible, digital tokens, or application tokens for exchange, trade, sale, or purchase in an online marketplace,” according to the filing.
As of November 1, the application’s status is “Live/Pending”, according to data from the World Intellectual Property Organization’s IP portal.
“New application will be assigned to an examining attorney approximately 3 months after filing date,” the entry says.
The latest development comes as a rising number of athletes and leagues are expanding into the NFT market and metaverse in a bid to generate additional sources of revenue. Among others, The Premier League, the top tier of England’s professional soccer league, is reportedly readying to establish a partnership with NFT fantasy soccer game Sorare that could be worth some £30 million ($34.6 million) per year.
Under the potential multi-year deal, the Premier League’s 20 clubs will enable their fans to buy NFTs with the digital depictions of top athletes such as Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur, and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, among others.
Curry’s league, the NBA, has also benefited from the rise of sports-themed NFTs. Built by Dapper Labs, the company which is also responsible for CryptoKitties, NBA Top Shot is a virtual trading card platform developed on the FLOW blockchain, officially licensed by the NBA Players Association. NBA Top Shot NFTs comprise short videos showcasing notable slam dunks, three-pointers, and other exciting game events, called “Moments.” In March 2022, NBA Top Shot reportedly reached a market capitalization of more than $1.1 billion.