This week, Alibaba Group Holding Limited had a major win in their ongoing legal battle with the Alibabacoin Foundation, a cryptocurrency that shares the “Alibaba” name. The company has won a primary injunction against the cryptocurrency on the grounds of copyright violation.
Alibabacoin Foundation was promising to offer a platform that would use blockchain technology to connect facial recognition with online shopping and payment options.
Earlier this year, Alibaba.com unsuccessfully sued Alibabacoin (ABBC), on the grounds that their name would cause confusion among customers and potentially damage their brand. The Alibabacoin Foundation has defended their similar name by saying that “Alibaba” is a magical reference that should not be monopolized by one company.
However, with this new filing, the Chinese company has had luck in the U.S.’s Southern District of New York. Judge Paul Oetken said in his ruling that the injunction:
“Enjoins defendants from using the ALIBABA Marks, as Alibaba has defined that term in its application for a preliminary injunction, alone or in combination with any words, terms, designations, marks, or designs—as well as any mark, image, or depiction that is confusingly similar to or likely to impair the distinctiveness of the ALIBABA Marks—anywhere in the United States.”
The filing stated that the Alibabacoin foundation used Alibaba trademarks to raise over $3.5 million dollars in their ICO. According to FinTechNews, there is a possibility that Alibabacoin could be acquired by Alibaba.
Alibabcoin has had some sucess and as CryptoGlobe reported last week, Alibabacoin was listed on 9 different exchanges at once. At time of publishing, Alibabacoin (ABBC) has a market cap of $1.9 million and is trading at 54 cents. The price of Alibabacoin has seen a sharp decline since the ruling.
