Jack Dorsey’s Block Sues Bitcoin.com for “Verse” Name in Europe
Block Inc. (NASDAQ: SQ), the payments company co-founded by Jack Dorsey, is reportedly threatening to sue Roger Ver’s Bitcoin.com for trademark infringement in Germany. The complaint stems from Bitcoin.com’s involvement in the Verse tokenized digital ecosystem and sale of the VERSE assets. Block Inc. acquired the eponymously named Verse Technologies Inc. in 2020, which includes a mobile payment app called VERSE.
According to Cointelegraph, legal counsel for Block sent letters to Bitcoin.com in July and August 2022 informing the company that it was infringing trademarks under German law by using the name “Verse” and the stylized word “VERSE”. Block Inc. demanded that Bitcoin.com promise in writing to stop using the Vers/VERS names in the EU, and threatened further legal action and a penalty of EUR 10,000 for each “infringement” after the deadline. It also sent a request for Bitcoin.com to reimburse the legal fees for the proceedings, amounting to EUR 3,744.
It is not clear what the current status of Block Inc’s action is. Although the letter asked Bitcoin.com to comply by August 17, 2022, it appears that the company has not abandoned the name. Press releases published on Bitcoin.com’s news page dated November 1 and 25, 2022 suggest that Bitcoin.com and partner Chainlink are pushing ahead with a public token sale and ecosystem app development. A private sale of VERSE tokens raised over USD 33 million back in May 2022, and the public sale runs from November 1st to 30th, 2022.
Verse’s public token sale is not available to residents of Japan or the United States, or US citizens abroad – as well as those on the regular list of financially sanctioned entities. However, there is no mention of the EU or Germany on the list.
The two verses and the VERSE
The Bitcoin.com/Chainlink VERSE project, from the Chainlink BUILD program, claims to have over 35 million wallets and over 5 million active users. The ecosystem includes the BUILDS development framework and a selection of decentralized applications (DApps) and DeFi services with the VERSE “utility token” as currency. Bitcoin.com’s role is to act as a “first touch point” hub to draw new users into the system.
Block Inc’s project of the same name comes from the acquisition of Verse Technologies Inc. and Decentralized Global Payments SL two years ago. In this case, VERSE is the company’s mobile payment app – which occupies a different but similar market sector to Chainlink’s Verse ecosystem.
Block Inc, COPA and Bitcoin
Block Inc. is the company formerly known as Square. It is associated with the blockchain development group Spiral, formerly known as Square Crypto. Block/Square is a founding member of COPA, the so-called “open patents” alliance of blockchain companies that appointed themselves guardians of blockchain-related intellectual property in 2020.
In that role, COPA also launched legal action against Bitcoin creator Dr. Craig S. Wright to challenge the latter’s copyright over the 2008 Bitcoin White Paper. The outcome of this trial, now scheduled for 2024, could potentially provide the most definitive legal decision about Dr. Wright’s claim to be the man behind the “Satoshi Nakamoto” pseudonym and the owner of important pieces of intellectual property related to Bitcoin and other blockchain applications .
Several companies, including Binance, Kraken and ShapeShift, have previously expressed moral indignation against those who dare to sue others in the digital asset/blockchain space over IP. The group of companies expressed this indignation most prominently in 2019 when the three exchanges delisted BSV as a trading vehicle, removing much of BSV’s liquidity. It remains to be seen whether they will take a similar public stance against the actions of Block Inc., its founder Dorsey, and any blockchain projects associated with the company.
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