A company in the U.K. has trademarked the term “bitcoin” and is attempting to enforce the trademark’s use, causing the cryptocurrency press to go into meltdown. But all is not as it seems.

The drama began with an Etsy seller publishing a letter from a lawyer representing the bitcoin trademark holder in relation to bitcoin-branded clothing items the person was offering for sale.

“It has come to our client’s attention that you are offering for sale a variety of clothing bearing the Bitcoin trademark on Etsy.co.uk. [Our Client] has not authorised your use of the Bitcoin trademark on and in relation to clothing. Such use, therefore, amounts to trademark infringement pursuant to s10(1) of the Trade Marks Act 1994,” the letter read.

In an apparent act of benevolence, the letter goes on to note though the trademark holder could take action against the seller, it instead gave the seller 14 days to remove the infringing goods instead.

Cryptocurrency sites have gone into meltdown over the fact that someone has not only trademarked bitcoin and were enforcing the trademark, with one site even going as far as saying the trademark holder will “have authority over everything Bitcoin, at least in the U.K.” But the truth is nowhere near that bad, and it’s clear the vast majority of those covering the story don’t understand basic trademark law.

Putting aside the moral arguments over anyone holding a trademark over the term bitcoin, trademarks relate to specific products. The trademark used in this case, UK00003279106, registered by a company called A.B.C. IP Holdings South West only covers three classes of goods: U.K. classes 25, 32 and 33, covering clothing, beverages and alcoholic beverages, respectively.

Since the particular trademark only pertains to those classes, the trademark owner has absolutely zero influence over anything to do with bitcoin outside those classes.

There is a catch, but it’s not related to this trademark specifically. A search of the U.K. Intellectual Property Office trademark registry finds multiple trademark registrations for bitcoin, such UK00003029238 from 2013 which pertains to “chocolate and confectionary.” But the more interesting one is a trademark for bitcoin with protected status: WE00001288610, covering a pile of bitcoin-related services that, unlike a trademark relating to T-shirts, should rightfully scare the bitcoin community.

The protected trademark is registered to Japanese bitcoin exchange bitFlyer and covers the use of bitcoin in six different classes. The list of items it covers is in the thousands, but among the most important and disturbing it includes the use of bitcoin in computer programs, advertising, financial services, electronic commerce and more, all of which are vital parts of bitcoin itself.

Digging around Google, it appears that the trademarks, registered in Japan and the European Union, originally belonged to Mt. Gox and were acquired by bitFlyer in 2014 A discussion on Reddit in January discusses some of implications, such as whether it could be used to stop sites such as bitcoin.com from using the name.

There appears to be no record of bitFlyer having actually attempted to enforce its trademark in the past and it’s not clear it ever would. But if the cryptocurrency community wants to get its knickers in a twist over trademarks, this is where people should be looking, not at a two-bit seller on Etsy selling T-shirts.

Image: Pixabay