Jack Dorsey’s Block is suing Bitcoin​.com for trademark infringement

by · December 1, 2022

Digital payments company Block Inc. is pursuing legal action against Roger Ver’s Bitcoin.com over alleged trademark infringement involving the newly launched Verse token, which closed a $33.6 million private sale in May 2022.

In a letter addressed to Bitcoin.com CEO Dennis Jarvis and legal counsel Joseph Collement, lawyers representing Block argued that Bitcoin.com’s use of “Verse” constitutes trademark infringement under German trademark law. The August 10 letter was a follow-up to a July 4 notice in which Block’s legal counsel, Bird & Bird, first outlined its trademark infringement case in Germany. A person familiar with the matter shared the letter with Cointelegraph.

The alleged trademark infringement stems from Block’s acquisition of Verse Technologies Inc. and Decentralized Global Payments SL in 2020. “The portfolio of Verse and Decentralized also included a peer-to-peer payment app under the name ‘VERSE’. Since the takeover, our client has operated this app,” the letter said.

Block’s legal counsel explained that the “VERSE” app is available in Europe, including Germany, and can be accessed on both Apple and Android devices. The letter described Block’s rights over a figurative mark containing the word “Verse” as well as the “VERSE” word mark, with priority for computer and application software for mobile devices.

“The use of the designation ‘VERSE’ constitutes an infringement of our client’s trademarks under German trademark law,” the letter concluded, adding:

“Our client therefore has a claim against you to stop and refrain from the offending actions. Furthermore, our client has a claim for information about the extent of the infringing acts as well as a claim for compensation for all damages that our client has incurred or will incur as a result of the infringement. Finally, our client is also entitled to reimbursement of the costs we incur in connection with this letter.”

Block’s legal advisors asked Bitcoin.com to sign a cease and desist statement by August 17, or face further legal action. It also requested that Bitcoin.com “cease and desist” its Verse token operations in the EU or face a contractual penalty of $10,400 (10,000 euros) “for each instance of infringement.” Block also asked to be reimbursed for legal fees of $3,906.54 (3,744.50 euros).

Bitcoin.com is owned by early Bitcoin (BTC) investor Ver, who served as CEO until August 1, 2019. Bitcoin.com operates a digital asset exchange and wallet and provides daily news on the cryptocurrency market. Many in the crypto community know Ver for his strong support of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which emerged in 2017 as a hard fork from Bitcoin’s original blockchain due to philosophical differences over scalability and transaction speed. Its supporters believe Bitcoin Cash is more in line with the vision set out for Bitcoin in Satoshi Nakamoto’s 2008 White Paper.

Founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey, Block changed from Square in December 2021 when its focus shifted to blockchain technology and Bitcoin. Dorsey has increasingly focused on Bitcoin hardware and payment solutions since stepping down as Twitter CEO in November 2021.

Related: Get Your Money Back: The Weird World of Crypto Litigation

Ver and Dorsey have been involved in personal disputes over the years, including in 2019 when Ver alleged that Dorsey only supported the Lightning Network because the Twitter founder was romantically involved with Lightning Labs CEO Elizabeth Stark.

The Vers token at the heart of the legal dispute has been publicly announced on Bitcoin.com’s Twitter page. Verse is described by its creators as a “cross-chain token” focused on expanding low-cost Ethereum Virtual Machine chains. It has a fixed supply of 210 billion tokens spread over seven years. The private sale, which closed in May, raised $33.6 million.