No One Forced Me to Drop Bitcoin Trademark Application, Lawyer Says

He described the decision to pull the application as a strategy shift toward jurisdictions “where successful opposition would be virtually impossible.” That means the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia and other countries where the standard for a trademark is “first to file” are off the table.

What’s in it for Mr. Pascazi? He’s doing a lot of work to research the trademark process in other countries, although the “Madrid protocol” which allows for trademarks filed in certain countries to be extended to certain other countries, makes it a bit easier.

“A registered trademark in a civil law country gives the holder of the mark the exclusive right to use the mark in commerce, for a prescribed period of time, usually ten years,” he said. “Anyone infringing upon the mark in those countries, where it is registered, would be subject to money damages, and an order to stop the infringing. Most infringements do not end this way. Rather a royalty agreement is negotiated as a settlement between the mark registrant, and the infringer.

“Moreover, an overseas mark infringer who has sufficient contacts here in the USA, by engaging in perhaps Bitcoin transactions with New Yorkers, places himself/herself at risk of being sued in a U.S. court of law, for injury to those Americans holding intellectual property rights overseas, such as registered trademarks.

“We shall see in due course what registrations are issued overseas, and how the whole world of crypto-currency worldwide evolves. Maybe it will go the way of the SONY Betamax or the way of The Face Book. Time will tell,” he said.