Unicoin Sues Uniswap Labs Over UNI Trademark Registration
Key Takeaways
- •TransparentBusiness is asking a federal court to rule that UNICOIN does not infringe or dilute Uniswap’s claimed trademarks.
- •The complaint seeks cancellation of Uniswap’s U.S. trademark registration for UNI.
- •Uniswap’s demand letters requested that Unicoin stop using related marks, transfer two domains, provide financial records and cover legal fees.
- •Unicoin also wants declarations that unicoin.com and unicoin.org do not violate the federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.
- •The lawsuit was filed before Unicoin’s website-listed Sept. 28 launch of the UNCN token, while Uniswap reported more than $3.9 billion in 24-hour volume according to DeFiLlama.
TransparentBusiness Inc., which operates as Unicoin, has sued Universal Navigation Inc., doing business as Uniswap Labs, in the Southern District of New York. The company is seeking declarations that its UNICOIN mark does not infringe or dilute Uniswap’s claimed trademarks.
In a complaint filed Tuesday, TransparentBusiness argued that UNICOIN does not infringe or dilute Uniswap’s UNI, UNISWAP or UNICHAIN marks. It also asked the court to cancel Uniswap’s US trademark registration for UNI.
According to the complaint, Uniswap’s counsel sent Unicoin three demand letters, dated June 3, July 17 and Aug. 14. The letters accused Unicoin of trademark infringement, dilution, cybersquatting and unfair competition, and threatened further legal action.
The demands called on Unicoin to stop using UNICOIN and other UNI-formative marks, transfer the unicoin.com and unicoin.org domains, provide an accounting of revenue and profits, and reimburse Uniswap’s legal fees.
The complaint also seeks a declaration that the unicoin.com and unicoin.org domains do not violate the federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, a law that addresses the registration or use of domain names associated with trademarks in bad-faith efforts to profit from those marks.
Cointelegraph has approached Uniswap for comment on the lawsuit.
At the time of writing, DeFiLlama ranked the Uniswap protocol first among decentralized exchanges by 24-hour volume, with more than $3.9 billion.
The lawsuit was filed weeks before Sept. 28, the public launch date that Unicoin lists on its website for the UNCN token.
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