Meta Accused of Infringing Infinity Logo, Switzerland's Dfinity Files Lawsuit

Meta, formerly Facebook, has been roped into a legal lawsuit by Dfinity Foundation. Based in Switzerland, the non-profit behind the Internet Computer blockchain has accused Meta of copying their infinity logo. Dfinity claims to hold the registration of the infinity logo as their symbol. The legal team representing Dfinity has filed a lawsuit at the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Notable variations in Meta's logo and the one being used by Dfinity include colours and structural tweaks. While Meta's infinity symbol is blue and loosely looped, Dfinity's logo is colourful and makes for a solid infinity sign.

Both the logos were approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Dfinity although claims, that its logo has been a mark of its services since March 2017, CoinTelegraph reported.

Dfinity's legal team has laid out a list of reasons why they do not think sharing a similar logo with Meta is a good idea.

“Meta and Dfinity seek to attract the same users, namely those who are looking for an innovative and different internet experience, created by users, for users. Further, both Meta and Dfinity utilise the same marketing channels such that consumers will likely encounter the marks through those same channels,” CoinTelegraph quoted the lawsuit as reading.

Dfinity has further blamed Meta for proceeding with an infinity logo when they were aware that another company had already assigned its identity with the mathematical symbol.

“The similarities between Meta's mark and Dfinity's mark, and Meta's intended use of its mark in the same space and through the same customer base as Dfinity, will cause confusion because consumers will mistakenly believe that Meta and its services are connected with, sponsored by, affiliated with, or related to Dfinity, or that Dfinity and its services are connected with, sponsored by, affiliated with or related to Meta,” the lawsuit added.

Dfinity lawyers have claimed that the blockchain foundation has already incurred losses in revenue due to confusion with Meta because of the logo.

Meta's response on the situation remains awaited.

On November 1 2021, social networking mammoth Facebook announced a fresh rebranding under a new name, Meta, unveiling its new infinity logo.

“The metaverse isn't something we're building; so much as it's something we're building for,” Clegg said, reiterating the vision shared by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg earlier in October.