Huobi Co-Founder's Company Wins Injunction Over Trademark Use in Hong Kong
Summary:
X-Spot Global Limited, owned by Leon Li, co-founder of the Huobi Global exchange, has successfully obtained an injunction against Huobi Global, barring them from using the "Huobi" trademark in Hong Kong. A court decision pending a trial found the HTX exchange's use of the name, and similarly named "火必," to be too similar to the registered Hong Kong trademark. The Huobi trademark, registered in 2019 and transferred to X-Spot Global Limited before the sale of Huobi Global in 2022, led to a lawsuit filed by X-Spot Global against Huobi Global for trademark infringement in 2023.
In a recent move, X-Spot Global Limited, held by Leon Li, a co-founder of Huobi Global exchange (now known as HTX) successfully secured an injunction to halt Huobi Global from employing the "Huobi" trademark in Hong Kong, which carries a Chinese significance. The Hong Kong High Court's recent ruling prevents HTX exchange from using the brand name Huobi (火幣), including the Chinese corporate name "火必” because they closely resemble the English trademark in Hong Kong; and this arrangement will hold until a final court hearing. The presiding judge, Mimmie Chan J, stated that at the moment she could not find any potential retort to the Plaintiff’s claim of copyright breach. As such, the Plaintiff's attorney insisted that there's no particular need for a discussion about the relevance of losses or the equilibrium of expediency to enforce the sought-after injunction.
The records of the court disclose that in 2019, the Huobi trademark was sanctioned in Hong Kong. In the month of September the year 2022, Huobi Global was purchased by About Capital Management, tied to the Chinese blockchain figurehead Justin Sun, from its co-founders Leon Li and Du Jun. However, in legal documentation, it was revealed that prior to the purchase in 2022, the Huobi brand name was wholly handed over to X-spot Global Limited, owned by Leon. Neither parties disputed this fact. Fast forward to July 2023, X-Spot Global brought a suit against Huobi Global for trademark breach. The defense by Huobi Global back then was having the entitlement to utilize them freely since they possessed the rights to the trademark in several legal jurisdictions globally.
In a previous disclosure from Cointelegraph in May 2023, Justin Sun made multiple accusations against Wei Li, brother of Leon Li, via a tweet, alleging that Wei Li unlawfully obtained enormous amounts of Huobi Tokens at no cost and was relentlessly selling and converting these tokens into cash. In response to these accusations, Leon Li urged Huobi to offer evidence. Further stating that if discovered that the HT tokens were illegitimately procured at zero cost, he'd be willing to personally offer ten times the amount in Huobi Tokens to the company. Related: The crypto exchange HTX recently witnessed an outflow surpassing $258M following a security breakdown.
Published At
12/11/2023 6:22:57 PM
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