Alibaba wins trademark injunction against Alibabacoin

Alibaba has won a trademark injunction against Alibabacoin, a cryptocurrency based in Belarus and Dubai that raised $3.5 million in an ICO in February.

The legal proceedings were centred around the use of Alibaba’s name to promote Alibabacoin’s similarly named cryptocurrency project.

Alibaba, which has a market cap of $331 billion, had its first attempt at an injunction turned down in May, with the US District Judge stating: “Alibaba has not met its burden to establish a reasonable probability that the Court has personal jurisdiction over Alibabacoin.”

However, it had more luck this time around, as it claimed that ‘with the benefit of evidence obtained through discovery’ the cryptocurrency firm had published further promotional material to align itself with the e-commerce company.

The Alibaba foundation, which has no affiliation with Alibaba, made claims in its whitepaper that it will use artificial intelligence for facial recognition purposes, which would be used for electronic payments and financial transactions.

Judge Paul Oetken confirmed that the Alibaba Foundation would now “be prevented from using the Alibaba Marks, as Alibaba has defined that term in its application for a preliminary injunction, alone or in combination with any words, terms, designations, marks, or designs—as well as any mark, image, or depiction that is confusingly similar to or likely to impair the distinctiveness of the Alibaba Marks—anywhere in the United States.”