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Wirex, a leading cryptocurrency company, has succeeded in its trade mark infringement claim in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court in London in respect of its CRYPTOBACK mark – used in relation to a credit card reward scheme where customers receive bitcoin as rewards.
The case highlights the importance of maintaining records to evidence use of a mark, particularly when relying on unregistered rights, as well as the potential challenges when adopting a newly coined word as a brand name.
Background to the case
In 2018, Wirex applied for, and subsequently registered, a UK trade mark for CRYPTOBACK covering a range of goods and services in classes 9, 36 and 42 relating to financial services and computer software. Wirex brought trade mark infringement proceedings against three corporate entities, Cryptocarbon Global Ltd, Cryptocarbon UK Ltd and Bee-One UK Ltd, which provided a cryptocurrency cashback service under t
Wirex wins High Court battle over ‘Cryptoback’ trademark
Digital payment platform Wirex has won its High Court battle over the use of its ‘Cryptoback’ Bitcoin reward scheme.
In a hearing which began in January, Wirex founders Pavel Matveev and Dmitry Lazarichev argued the owners of Cryptocarbon Global Ltd, Cryptocarbon UK Ltd and Bee-One UK Ltd had infringed London-based Wirex’s ‘Cryptoback’ trademark.
The Cryptoback scheme gives up to 1.5% of the transaction value back to customers in Bitcoin who use their Wirex card for in-store purchases.
Giving evidence for the defendants, Mr Subash George Manuel, claimed his companies had started using ‘Cryptoback’ from 2017 in good faith, and that Wirex’s registering of the trademark was invalid.