TransparentBusiness Inc., doing business as Unicoin, sued Universal Navigation Inc. (Uniswap Labs) in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday. The complaint seeks declarations that the UNICOIN mark does not infringe or dilute Uniswap’s claimed marks, including UNI, UNISWAP, and UNICHAIN. Additionally, Unicoin requested the court cancel the US trademark registration for UNI.
The filing alleges that Uniswap’s counsel sent three demand letters between June 3 and Aug. 14 accusing Unicoin of infringement, dilution, cybersquatting, and unfair competition. These letters demanded Unicoin cease using UNICOIN-related marks, transfer its unicoin.com and unicoin.org domains, provide revenue accounting, and reimburse legal fees. Unicoin also seeks a declaration that its domains do not violate the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. This legal action occurs weeks before Unicoin’s scheduled Sept. 28 launch of its UNCN token.
This litigation highlights the intensifying friction between legacy crypto entities and newer projects over brand identity and intellectual property rights. By seeking cancellation of the UNI registration, Unicoin is challenging the scope of Uniswap's trademark protection, arguing that common prefixes like "UNI" should not grant exclusive rights across all cryptocurrency applications. The dispute underscores the difficulty of establishing distinct market positions when naming conventions rely heavily on shared industry terminology.
From a Regulatory and Compliance perspective, this case serves as a bellwether for how courts will interpret trademark dilution in the decentralized finance sector. The outcome could influence future branding strategies for protocols launching tokens with similar nomenclature. Stakeholders should monitor whether the court upholds the validity of the UNI mark or restricts its enforcement against derivative names, as this decision may set precedents for domain ownership and brand differentiation in the crypto asset class.
