Altcoin News: Facebook and Calibra Accused of Trademark Infringement
October 14, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE
In addition to Facebook’s regulatory issues surrounding the launch of Libra, the fintech company Current has sued Calibra for infringing the logo.
Calibra is developing a cryptocurrency wallet for the Libra project. A complaint filed with the U.S. Federal Court for the Southern District of New York claims that the Calibra logo is too similar to the Current logo that the company has been using since August 2016. Current requires a preliminary injunction and pecuniary compensation.
“The infringing mark adopted and used by the Calibra Defendants is not only confusingly similar to, but virtually identical to the Current Marks,” the complaint says.
Logo designs do have similar origin histories — both marks were created by Character branding from San Francisco, also named as the lawsuit. It is still unknown whether the same design team worked on the creation of logos.
In June, Current CEO Stuart Sopp told CNBC that Facebook is taking advantage of the fact that fintech company Current, which has launched a mobile banking application, is not large. He noted:
“Facebook has all the money and resources in the world. If they truly wanted to make banking more inclusive and fair, they should’ve come up with their own ideas and branding, like we have.”
Recall that the other day five companies announced their withdrawal from the Libra project. In addition, the Bank of England recently issued requirements for launching Libra in the UK, and US senators called on payment companies to reconsider their plans to participate in the project.
Author: Marko Vidrih
