In a recent ruling, the Commercial Court No. 2 of Bilbao has declared the invalidity of a trademark that reproduced the Bitcoin logo, in a decision that is of great importance to the Bitcoin community and after the owner of the trademark sued Bit2Me for considering that it was infringing the trademark of which it was the owner.
Now, following Bit2Me's judicial success, the ruling has not only dismissed Bit2me's claim of any infringement, but has also declared the nullity of the Spanish figurative trademark number 4.046.141, registered under class 35 for advertising services, commercial business management, commercial administration and office work. This decision sets a significant precedent in the field of cryptocurrencies and intellectual property, affecting both entrepreneurs and established companies in the sector.
In its defense, Bit2Me claimed that both the origin of the word 'Bitcoin' and the logo that represents it were far from the plaintiff's claims, since it had been initially created and made known in November 2010 on the bitcointalk.org forum, the same one where Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper.
The judge concluded that "the creator of the logo registered by the plaintiff transferred it to the community for free and unrestricted use, without such use allowing a member of the community to appropriate the logo for commercial purposes, as is the case," so that "the plaintiff has acted in abuse of the trust of the community, which is indeterminate by definition but is made up of the plurality of those who, with their generosity and knowledge, allow progress in society, taking advantage of the reputation gained by the creator, or creators, of the logo."
This judicial success in favor of Bit2Me, extensible to the entire crypto ecosystem, has been achieved thanks to the judicial defense of Bit2Me, led by attorney Javier Maestre, with the support of the company's Compliance and Legal area and the law firm CLUB LEGAL, who not only articulated the response to the lawsuit, but also designed a strategy to countersue the plaintiff in order to request the nullity of the trademark, considering that it had been granted to the detriment of the provisions of the Spanish Trademark Law.
This ruling highlights the importance of understanding the limits of intellectual property in the cryptocurrency space. Entrepreneurs should be aware that terms and logos widely used and recognized in the digital community may not be eligible for exclusive registration. Furthermore, the ruling underlines the need to act in good faith in trademark registrations to avoid costly litigation and eventual invalidation of registrations.
