X-Spot Global Limited, a company owned by Huobi Global exchange (now HTX) co-founder Leon Li, has won an injunction against Huobi Global for the latter to cease its use of the Chinese-equivalent “Huobi” trademark in Hong Kong.
According to a recent decision with the Hong Kong High Court, the HTX exchange will be barred from using the trademark name Huobi (火幣) and the Chinese business name “火必,” which is “confusingly similar” to the English trademark in Hong Kong, pending a final trial on the matter. Presiding judge Mimmie Chan J wrote:
“At this stage, I am unable to see any arguable defence to the Plaintiff’s claim of trademark infringement, and as Counsel for the Plaintiff submitted, there is no need to consider the adequacy of damages or the balance of convenience for the grant of the Injunction sought.”
Court documents reveal that the Huobi trademark was registered in 2019 in Hong Kong. In September 2022, Huobi Global was sold by co-founders Li and Du Jun to About Capital Management, an entity linked to Chinese blockchain personality Justin Sun.
However, according to court filings, the Huobi trademark was assigned, or rights fully transferred, to Leon’s X-Spot Global Limited before the September 2022 acquisition, which is “not disputed” by either party. In July 2023, X-Spot Global sued Huobi Global in Hong Kong for trademark infringement. At the time, Huobi Global stated that “it holds trademark rights in many legal jurisdictions around the world and is therefore entitled to use them freely.”
Cointelegraph previously reported that in May 2023, Justin Sun published a series of allegations against Wei Li, Leon Li’s brother. In the tweet, Sun accused Wei of receiving millions of Huobi Tokens through “abnormal means” at zero cost and of “consistently selling off these HT tokens and cashing out.” To which Lin Li replied, “I hope Huobi can provide evidence. If it is confirmed that it is zero-cost HT was obtained through illegal means, I will personally pay 10 times the HT [amount] to Huobi company.”
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