Telegram vs Lentah LLC
Telegram is a very well known and used messaging app which is also very popular among crypto enthusiasts.
The reason for that beeing, that the company behind Telegram announced the biggest ICO of all times collecting several Billions of Dollars from institutional and private Investors in a Token sale which was announced in December 2017.
Apparently another company from Florida is now trying to cash in on the hype around Telegram and its upcoming cryptocurrency by issuing their own coin called "Gram"
In February 2018 after the beginning of the Telegram ICO a company called Lantah LLC filed a trademark registration for “gram,” stating that it intended to develop its own cryptocurrency.
telegram intervened, stating that they had already registered a trademark for "Gram" and accusing Lantah LLC of illegally profiting from a name they were never allowed to use and therefore causing "brand confusion"
In the complaint it said:
“Lantah’s unauthorized use in commerce of a service mark that is confusingly similar to Telegram Messenger’s GRAM mark has caused and is likely to continue to cause confusion or mistake, or to deceive consumers and potential consumers, the public, and the trade concerning an affiliation, connection, or association between Lantah and Telegram when there is no such affiliation, connection, or association.”
Daniel Jeffrey, owner of Lentah LLC denied the accusation and stated, that he didn't even hear about the telegram ICO before registering "Gram"
“Lantah was publicly using the Gram name before we were even aware of Telegram’s decision to market one of their products with the same name. This was backed up by the availability of the trademark,”
What do you think about this case, and do you think that Lentah is guilty of causing brand confusion?
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