Public filings and multiple reports have shown that the A.B.C IPHoldings South West has successfully acquired a trademark for the name Bitcoin.

A UK Company successfully copyrights the name bitcoin as their trademark. This week, crypto enthusiasts found out that the name Bitcoin had been trademarked using the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) in the UK last December.

The update came as a shock to a merchant who was selling t-shirts on Etsy with the Bitcoin name and was commanded to stop the operations and be held liable against the law. The letter states:

“It has come to our client’s attention that you are offering for sale a wide selection of clothing bearing the Bitcoin trademark on Etsy.co.uk. You are not authorized to use the Bitcoin trademark and about clothing. Such use, therefore, is against the trademark infringement under Trademark Act of 1994.”

Contacting the company is quite a difficult task as there is a little information listed on the firm’s website. The trademark itself was filed last December 2017, reveals a list of goods that can’t bear the name without permission such as infant’s clothing, adult clothing, socks, headbands, shoes and everything that can be manufactured into the product. With the trademark number UK00003279106, the Bitcoin was officially registered into the IPO’s records last April 13, 2018.

The said filing of trademark seems to be the first successful attempt using the name Bitcoin as there have been other attempts in the past. Way back March 2015, The United States Patent and Trademark Office, (PTO) rejected the Urban Trend’s attempt and requested to get the trademark Bitcoin (Reg 86135516).  A year after and with the same month, the Russian Patent Agency Rospatent denied the Moscow-based firm M-Group after its attempt of earning the copyright of the Bitcoin name.

Many crypto enthusiasts have been angry about the latest news before all the attempts denied during the past. Back in 2015, the Bitcoin Foundation – a nonprofit organization published a plea to businesses and individuals asking them not to copyright the term or the name Bitcoin.

“The name Bitcoin alone should not be the intellectual property of any entity or any individual.” Explained by the organization.

“Rather it is a generic term used for other money currencies such as euro, yen or dollar, etc. The foundation is committed and dedicated to doing what it can do to protect the term “Bitcoin” for public use.”