Dubai-based Crypto Firm To Stop Using Alibaba Name

A Dubai-based cryptocurrency firm will stop using the name ‘Alibabacoin’ after reaching a settlement with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group in a  US court, the company announced Tuesday.

In a joint statement, Alibaba Group China and ABBC Foundation said that “they had reached a worldwide settlement of claims involving the use of the name Alibabacoin, with ABBC agreeing not to use trademarks that include the term Alibaba worldwide.”

The statement added, “ABBC regrets any public confusion that may have arisen from its former use of Alibabacoin.”

In the original lawsuit, Alibaba Group had accused ABBC of misleading its customers and damaging its business in the US by using the Alibaba name to raise over $3.5 million in Alibabacoins.

In response, Alibabacoin lawyers argued that it was “neither a responsible nor proportionate response to our client’s legitimate use of an inherently generic word” stemming from the Middle East.

In May, a New York judge rejected a preliminary injunction from Alibaba Group, arguing that the Chinse company failed to prove that an American court had jurisdiction over the matter, as well as establish a “reasonable probability” that Alibacoin’s websites were used to do business with customers in New York.

Additionally, the judge also argued that it was irrelevant that Alibabacoin may one day have listed its digital currency on American exchanges and that one of its websites is hosted by a New York-based company.

Alibaba Group, however, launched a new trial motion to ‘to put an end to this willful, concerted and unlawful scheme by the ABBC Foundation to exploit Alibaba Group trademarks.”