Chinese company AI Deepseek has been accused of stealing IP, faced surveys to protect privacy in Europe and was the goal of a huge. Now, it seems that the company has a new headache in its hands: a US trademark collision.
On Tuesday, Deepseek applied for With the US Patent and Trademark Bureau (USPTO) that seeks to trade mark on AI Chatbot’s applications, products and tools. But it was a hair very late. Thirty -six hours earlier, other The company had deposited the brand “Deepseek”: A Delaware based company that goes under the name “Delson Group Inc.”
Delson Group claims to have sold AI products since early 2020, in its application, the company lists its address as a home in Cupertino and CEO and its founder as a person named Willie Lu.
Lu, who coincidentally graduated from the same university as founder Deepseek Liang Wenfeng, Zhejiang University allegations in LinkedIn’s profile Be a “semi-pensioner” advice professor at Stanford and a FCC consultant. Lu seems to have spent most of his career in the wireless industry. Other websites TechCrunch has revealed through the email address referring to the brand that reports LU lectures and training courses on wireless standards.
LU also hosts an educational lesson “Deepseek” in Las Vegas in “Ai Super-Anttelligence”, starting at $ 800 a ticket-which is obviously characterized by Website linked to DELSON GROUP’s trademark deposit. The site claims that LU has “about 30 years of experience in ICT [information and communications technology] and the AI fields. ”
When he arrived for comments at the e -mail submitted by the trademark, Lu told TechCrunch he would be willing to “meet and talk” to Palo Alto or Saratoga. (This journalist is based in New York.) Lu did not respond to a monitoring request.
A search for “Delson Group” In the USPTO Research System and Committee System, the Council of Court of Appeal Investigation System appears over two dozen differences between LU and organizations, including Wireless GSMA, Tencent and Tracfone. Delson has abandoned some of the trademarks filed or otherwise canceled pending applications.
A broader search that uses the USPTO brand search tool delivers a list of 28 Delson -registered brands, some of which are brands belonging to large Chinese companies. Delson has a brand for “Geely”, for example, the Chinese car company and “China Mobile”, the Hong Kong telecommunications provider.
The pattern indicates a brand history – recording a brand in order to sell it later or lead to the popularity of a brand. In one of the most well -known examples of trademarks, Chinese businessman Zhan Baosheng successfully The English name “Tesla” in China, as well as Tesla’s “T” logo, the font and the Chinese translated name. (Baosheng later settled with Tesla for a non -announced quantity.)
Indeed, Deepseek options are quite limited at this juncture. According to the US Law, the first user of a trademark is usually considered that the legal owner of the trademark, unless it can be proven that the trademark was recorded with bad faith.
“While Deepseek could potentially pursue a coexistence agreement if they can prove that they operate in various aspects of AI by Delson Group, the US company has many advantages,” Josh Gerben, lawyer and founder of Gerben IP, a practical law He specializes in IP issues, he told TechCrunch. “They were first deposited. They claim that previous use – 2020 against Deepseek claimed 2023 Start Date – [and] They have a vibrant website that shows activities related to AI, including training events. ”
Gerben said the Delson Group could even claim “reverse confusion” due to Deepseek’s rapid rise in ledge or Sue to prevent Deepseek from continuing the use of trademark in the US
“Deepseek may actually have a brand problem in the United States, where this owner of previous rights could be , said Gerben.
It would not be the first time an AI company has exceeded trademarks.
Openai failed to the brand “GPT” last February, as USPto considered the term very general. In the last months, Openai He has also fought Technologist and Entrepreneur Guy Ravine for the right to use “Open AI”, which Raveine claims to have thrown as part of an “open source” AI vision around 2015 – the founding year of Openai.
