Financial services firms PayPal Inc. and Western Union filed several new crypto trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to offer a wide range of crypto services.
PayPal filed for three new crypto trademarks, while Western Union also filed for three on the same day, according to the USPTO-licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis.
Kondoudis took to Twitter pointing out that “PayPal has filed trademark applications for PayPal and its ‘overlapping Ps’ logo. The apps claim plans for exchanging, trading, and processing transfers of blockchain + digital assets, crypto + digital + virtual currencies.” However, Western Union’s crypto trademark applications were more specific and looked like they were planning something with token issuance, insurance, an exchange platform and so on.
According to Kondoudis, “Western Union has filed 3 trademark applications claiming plans for financial + banking + insurance, virtual currency exchange + transfer, commodity and crypto trading + brokerage, issuing tokens of value.”
Earlier this month, CoinSwitch reported that PayPal withdrew a policy change that aimed to impose a fine of $2,500 on its users for spreading “misinformation.” PayPal claimed that the policy update went “out in error.”
A company spokesperson claimed that the Acceptable Use Policy notice which recently went out was “in error that included incorrect information.” He further confirmed that “PayPal is not fining people for misinformation”.
PayPal’s move to withdraw the policy came after it suffered considerable backlash on Twitter from eminent names like David Marcus, CEO of Bitcoin-based startup Lightspark, and PayPal’s former president and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Others like Maple Finance co-founder Sid Powell also made comments on the incident, explaining to users the need to have custody over their own funds.
