Block Inc., Owned by Jack Dorsey, Sues Bitcoin.com for Use of Patented “Verse”.

Bitcoin.com, his Twitter account was never verified when Jack Dorsey was CEO of Twitter. (photo: @bitcoin)

JAKARTA - Digital payments company Block Inc. is pursuing legal action against Roger Ver's Bitcoin.com over alleged trademark infringement involving its newly launched Verse token, which completed a $33.6 million private sale in May. 2022.

In a letter addressed to Bitcoin.com CEO Dennis Jarvis and the company's legal counsel Joseph Collement, lawyers representing Block claim that Bitcoin.com's use of "Verse" constitutes trademark infringement under German trademark law.

The letter, dated August 10, 2022, follows up on a July 4, 2022 notice in which Block's legal counsel, Bird & Bird, first presented its trademark infringement case in Germany. This is known from a source who shared the letter with Cointelegraph.

Alleged trademark infringement stems from the acquisition of Verse Technologies Inc. and Decentralized Global Payments S.L. in 2020. “The Verse and Decentralized Portfolio also includes a peer-to-peer payment application under the name “VERSE”. Since the takeover, our client has been operating this application," the letter read.

Block's legal advisors explained that the "VERSE" app is available in Europe, including Germany, and can be accessed on Apple and Android devices. The letter details Block's rights to figurative marks containing the word "Verse" as well as the word mark "VERSE", with priority for computers and application software for mobile devices.

"Use of the term "VERSE" constitutes a violation of our client's trademark under German trademark law," the letter read.

“Therefore, our client has a claim against you to cease and desist from the infringing act. In addition, our clients have a claim for information about the scope of the breach as well as a claim for compensation for all damages our client has or will incur as a result of the breach. Lastly, our client is also entitled to reimbursement of costs we have incurred in connection with this letter.”

Block's legal advisors are requesting that Bitcoin.com sign a termination and enforcement statement by August 17, 2022, or face further legal action. It also requests that Bitcoin.com “cease and cease” the operation of its Verse token in the European Union or face a contract penalty of USD 10,400 (IDR 163 million) “for any case of violation.” Block also requested reimbursement for legal costs of 3,906.54 (Rp 61 million).

Bitcoin.com is owned by early Bitcoin investor Roger Ver, who served as CEO until August 1, 2019. Bitcoin.com operates a digital asset exchange and wallet and provides daily news on the cryptocurrency market.

Many in the crypto community know Ver for its strong support for Bitcoin Cash, which emerged in 2017 after leaving the original Bitcoin blockchain due to philosophical differences around scalability and transaction speed. However, its proponents believe that BCH is more in line with the vision set out for Bitcoin in Satoshi Nakamoto's 2008 white paper.

Founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey, Block changed its name from Square in December 2021 as its focus shifted to blockchain technology and Bitcoin. Dorsey has increasingly focused on Bitcoin hardware and payment solutions since stepping down as CEO of Twitter in November 2021.

Ver and Dorsey have had personal feuds over the years, including in 2019 when Ver accused Dorsey of supporting the Lightning Network due to his alleged romantic involvement with Lightning Labs CEO Elizabeth Stark. Some have speculated that this personal issue is the reason Twitter never verified Bitcoin.com accounts when Dorsey was CEO.

The Verse token at the heart of the legal dispute is publicly advertised on the Bitcoin.com Twitter page. Verse is described by its creators as a "cross-chain token" focused on extending to low-cost Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains. This token has a fixed supply of 210 billion tokens distributed over seven years. His private sale, which ended last May, raised $33.6 million.