Entertainment and media giant Disney has blocked the Tron blockchain platform from having three trademarks because, per Disney, these have been and will be damaging its trademarks, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Applications, including one for TRON, were rejected on November 6.
Tron, founded by Justin Sun, is a blockchain network that uses native cryptocurrency, Tron (TRX), to power the digital cryptocurrency economy of all digital entertainment content.
The three trademarks mentioned are variations of the names Tron (“TRON,” “TRON NETWORK” and “TRONIX”), which have been used to trademark their decentralized projects for the past two years.
The aforementioned incident was a significant loss for the project, which Sun had hoped to become the fourth largest platform by the end of this year (in fact, falling to twelfth place).
Meanwhile, Disney has built up a large part of its multi-billion dollar empire for its global marketing campaigns and high-end trademarks. Its “Tron” is a 1982 sci-fi film produced by Walt Disney Productions. The sequel is titled “Tron: Legacy” (released December 17, 2010) and later the animated series “Tron: Uprising.”
Source: Disney
Disney not only claims that Sun’s registration for TRON, will ruin their franchise but also pay attention to how the tech startup is using this name. Tron used TRON Marks in all capital letters in a font/style that is very similar to the unique and distinct font/style of [Disney’s] TRON Marks.
It’s not hard for Disney to find examples of trademark infringement; they take screenshots from Tron’s website.
Source: Tron
According to Jake Chervinsky, an adviser at Compound, it is clear that Tron does not take the trademark registration process seriously. They never hired US lawyers to represent them, although USPTO clearly ordered them to do so. They also did not respond to USPTO’s default notice, which means that they have entirely abandoned their trademarking efforts.
I’ll spare everyone the primer on US trademark law. Just take a look at this and you’ll get what’s going on here (from page 15 of Disney’s Opposition to Tron’s trademark applications): pic.twitter.com/FTo6n8VHbf
— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) December 20, 2019
A hit for Justin Sun but TRX price not down
In the news, market commentators say that the trademark applications are nonetheless ambitious, with Disney’s pre-existing trademarks, but it could cause even more trouble for Tron.
Mati Greenspan, the former eToro senior market analyst, said that “To be fair, Disney probably has a better claim to the name Tron.”
Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO of Fintech and Sports blockchain Chiliz, seems to be leaning toward Justin Sun. He said, “In all fairness, ‘Justin Sun Tron’ is right here. Critics are important but truth too”.
In all fairness, @justinsuntron is right here 🙂 Critics are important but truth too. https://t.co/LvpFi2Yd1x pic.twitter.com/PwMzZLpKeW
— Alexandre Dreyfus (@alex_dreyfus) December 21, 2019
The Google searches found the Tron movie dominates search results from IMDb, Disney Film, Tron Wiki Fandom, Rotten Tomatoes, and YouTube.
For results to display content related to Sun’s Tron blockchain network, users must search for “Tron TRX,” “Tron blockchain,” “Tron crypto,” “Justin Sun Tron.”
But, searches for “Tron TRX” outperformed “Tron movie” most of 2019.
Source: Google Trends
Tron CEO Justin Sun came up with a late feedback topic for this incident on Twitter:
“TRON’s brand is well-established and reputed worldwide. Lots of misinformed FUD falsely claiming about the TRON trademark invalidated by Disney.
TRON has filed trademark applications in the United States for various marks in different classes, many of which have not been challenged and are not affected by Disney “.
(3/6) #TRON has filed trademark applications in the United States for various marks in different classes, many of which have not been challenged and are not affected by Disney.
— Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) December 21, 2019
It seems that the Tron community has not been affected by this FUD and the price of TRX is still trading in blue with a moon level of more than 2% at $0.0134
Daily TRX price. Source: Coinmarketcap
Read more:
- Zk-SNARK Tron’s Privacy Feature Has Been Announced Beta Version
- Justin Sun (Tron) And Yi He (Binance) Weibo Accounts Simultaneously Blocked, TRX Price Dropped Soon After