Meta sued by blockchain group over ‘infinity’ logo
Meta’s “infinity logo” infringes a trademark owned by Swiss non-profit blockchain company Dfinity Foundation, a new lawsuit filed in California federal court claims.
Dfinity develops one of the largest public blockchains, the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) and has used a trademarked infinity symbol as its logo since October 2018.
In a lawsuit filed with the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday 29 April, Dfinity claims that Meta’s newly-adopted logo represents a “willful and wanton disregard of Dfinity’s established and superior rights”.
The Swiss company says that it will continue to suffer irreparable injury if Meta is allowed to continue using the logo.
It also alleges that Meta’s logo could cause consumers to associate the two brands, which would “severely harm” the development of the decentralised ICP platform due to Facebook’s focus on developing its “centralised, closed” Metaverse platform.
“Any association between Dfinity and Meta would cause consumers, including users and developers, to question Dfinity’s core mission,” the lawsuit said.
Dfinity has asked that the court uphold the validity of its trademark and rule that Meta’s logo infringes and is likely to cause confusion, cause mistake, or deceive consumers.
It also asks the court to hand down a ruling of false designation of origin, claiming that the Meta mark has been used in a way that is likely to confuse customers. Dfinity adds that Meta’s new mark violates unfair competition laws and therefore seeks compensatory damages.
Earlier this month, Meta was hit with a patent infringement suit over the use of a system to create and disseminate content on the Facebook platform.
Delaware-based tech company Virtual Creative Artists filed the complaint at the US District Court for the Western District of Texas on March 3, 2022.
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