Ripple Continues To File For Trademarks In The U.S.
- Last week the firm filed for yet another trademark, PayString, though the lack of information leaves us guessing what it will be used for.
- 2020 has been a busy year for Ripple, as can be seen from the USPTO website, which shows the company has filed for 11 trademarks throughout the year.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt SF at Moscone Center, San Francisco, California, September 5, 2018.
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San Francisco-based blockchain firm Ripple has filed for yet another trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last week.
Filed last Friday, the application is classified under the “Advertising and Business” and “Insurance and Financial” categories, and is for the trademark “PayString”. It remains unknown which business or product will be under the PayString name, as there is little information to go by. In fact, the trademark registration description is very similar to that used for the “Ripplenet” filing from earlier this year. The use cases in the filing are:
“Electronic financial services, namely monetary services for receiving and disbursing remittances and monetary gifts in fiat currencies and virtual currencies over a computer network and for exchanging fiat currencies and virtual currencies over a computer network.”
This year Ripple has filed a number of trademark applications. Back in August, the firm applied for a batch of three trademarks, for Ripple Impact, Ripple X, and Ripplex, all three of which referred to electronic payment services and monetary gifts in fiat currencies. Overall, Ripple has applied for 11 trademarks throughout 2020, according to the USPTO website.
While the firm is actively applying for trademarks in the U.S., it remains unknown if it will remain based in the country. Last month, a senior executive at Ripple warned that the firm could soon move to either Singapore or the U.K. if the U.S. does not change its regulatory stance on crypto. The executive further stated that almost every other country had a better regulatory climate for crypto than the U.S..
- A federal judge ruled that the sale of XRP through exchanges and algorithms did not qualify as selling securities, which could have a major impact on several SEC lawsuits.
- The institutional sale of the token, however, did violate federal securities laws, and the lawsuit between the SEC and Ripple will have to go to trial.
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- These documents are seen as central in Ripple’s battle against the SEC, which in 2020 accused the company of selling its XRP token without registering it as a security.
- The documents in question are internal emails, text messages, and expert reports that followed Hinman’s 2018 speech, in which he said ETH and BTC were not securities.
- The exchange argues that the SEC failed to provide a “fair notice” that selling XRP was illegal, and that it previously made public statements that those transactions were lawful.
- Coinbase also pointed out that the SEC is yet to provide clear guidance to crypto businesses, and that it keeps being inconsistent about its enforcement approach.