A company from London, whose name has not been revealed, had the good idea to file last year the name "Bitcoin".
A few days ago, a seller operating on the Etsy platform received an e-mail from the British Intellectual Property Office urging him to immediately stop the sale of clothing with the term "Bitcoin".
Here is what we read in this email:
One of our customers found that you are offering a range of clothes featuring the trademark BITCOIN on etsy.co.uk. We have attached screenshots of some of these clothes, which can be found in Appendix 2.
The company has not given you permission to use the BITCOIN trademark on these garments. Such use is therefore tantamount to trademark infringement under section 10 (1) of the Trade-marks Act 1994.
And indeed, the mark "Bitcoin" is registered on the UK site trademarks.ipo.gov.uk. This deposit is valid until December 2027 - the company will then have the opportunity to renew it for a period of 10 years. It could thus remain the only British company to be able to put the word "Bitcoin" on clothing.
According to the site Cryptovest, this name would already be deposited - or about to be - in different countries. Technically, it is perfectly legal for a company to register a trademark that does not belong to anyone, thus preventing other companies from using the term for commercial purposes.
Thus, in Germany, Katjes Fassin GmbH filed the term "Bitcoin" on December 12, 2017, to offer products and services in the food sector. It was also deposited in France last January by a cosmetics brand.
In the United States, a certain Ashraf Alqaqaqa has registered the trademark "Bitcoin" under the serial number 87750980. This application has still not been approved.
