Sobering idea – Irish Distillers apply for NFT patent for ‘virtual bars’

Looking to push Dry January a little further in the years to come?

Try sipping a virtual whiskey in a virtual bar.

Irish Distillers, owned by French beverage giant Pernod Ricard, has filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for Metaverse and non-fungible token (NFT)-related trademarks for Jameson whiskey.

In the motion, it called for plans for virtual bars and beverages, virtual clothing and merchandise, stores selling virtual goods and NFTs, and online marketplaces for trading virtual goods and NFTs.

A spokeswoman for Irish Distillers said: “In 2022, like many global brands curious about the growing popularity of the digital universe, Irish Distillers began looking to register the existing Jameson brand IP in new brand classes to protect their future efforts.”

Beverage brands have been experimenting with virtual worlds, with Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg promising that the Metaverse will be where we will all meet going forward, albeit with great skepticism.

Pernod Ricard said Maison Martell would be the first of France’s great cognac houses to enter the metaverse of The Sandbox and would allow visitors to take a virtual tour of Castle Martell.

Diageo’s Johnnie Walker and Captain Morgan hosted virtual happy hours at the world’s first NFT conference last year, and Diageo hosted a branded virtual bar at Decentraland’s Metaverse Fashion Week.

When Johnnie Walker released his first NFT collection with artist BossLogic at auction, it sold out in 10 minutes.

Brands not only want to use the Metaverse as a marketing tool, but also want to protect their NFT and Metaverse intellectual property from fraudsters.