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 concluded 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 claimed that Bitcoin.com’s use of “Verse” constituted trademark infringement under German trademark law. The letter, dated Aug. 10, 2022, was a follow-up to a July 4, 2022 notice in which Block’s legal counsel, Bird & Bird, first laid out its trademark infringement case in Germany. A person familiar with the matter shared the letter with Cointelegraph.

The alleged trademark violation stems from Block’s acquisitions of Verse Technologies Inc. and Decentralized Global Payments S.L. in 2020. “The portfolio of Verse and Decentralized also included a peer-to-peer payment app under the name "VERSE". Since the takeover, our client has been operating this app,” the letter read.

Block’s legal counsel explained that the “VERSE” app is available in Europe, including Germany, and can be accessed on both Apple and Android devices. The letter detailed Block’s rights over a figurative mark that contains the word “Verse” as well as the “VERSE” word mark, with priority for computer and application software for mobile devices.

(by Sam Bourgi)