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Chinese AI company DeepSeek has beenaccused of IP thievery , facedprivacy enquiry in Europe , and has been the target of anenormous cyberattack . Now , it appears the company has a new cephalalgia on its men : a U.S. trademark fight .
On Tuesday , DeepSeekfiled an applicationwith the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ( USPTO ) endeavor to trademark its AI chatbot apps , products , and tools . But it was a hair too tardily . Thirty - six 60 minutes in the first place , anotherfirm had filed for the earmark “ DeepSeek ” : a Delaware - establish troupe buy the farm by the name “ Delson Group Inc. ”
Delson Group asserts that it has been selling DeepSeek - brand AI products since early 2020 . In its app , the company list its name and address as a house in Cupertino , and its chief executive officer and founder as a someone identify Willie Lu .
Lu , who coincidently graduated from the same university as DeepSeek beginner Liang Wenfeng , Zhejiang University , claims on his LinkedIn profileto be a “ semi - retired ” consulting professor at Stanford and an FCC consultant . Lu seems to have expend most of his career in the wireless industry . Otherweb pagesTechCrunch unveil through the e-mail address listed in the trademark filing mention Lu ’s lecture and training course on wireless standards .
Lu also hosts a “ DeepSeek ” educational row in Las Vegas on “ AI Super - Intelligence , ” pop at $ 800 a just the ticket — which features prominently on thewebsite linked in Delson Group ’s earmark filing . The website claims that Lu has “ about 30 years ’ expertise in ICT [ information and communications applied science ] and AI field . ”
When hit for commentary at the trademark filing email , Lu told TechCrunch that he would be uncoerced to “ run into and talk ” in Palo Alto or Saratoga . ( This newsman is based in NYC . ) Lu did n’t respond to a follow - up asking .
A hunt for “ Delson Group”in the USPTO ’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Inquiry System turn up more than two dozen dispute between Lu and organizations , admit the GSMA , Tencent , and TracFone Wireless . Delson hasabandonedsome of the trademarks it filed for , or otherwisecanceledits pending applications .
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A broader hunt using the USPTO ’s Trademark Search pecker yields a list of 28 trademarks register under Delson , a few of which are brands belonging to major Chinese companies . Delson has a hallmark for “ Geely , ” for example , the Formosan self-propelling business firm , and “ China Mobile , ” the Hong Kong - base telecommunications provider .
The design suggests a account of trademark squat — registering a trademark with the intention of sell it afterwards or riding on a brand ’s popularity . In one of the best - know examples of stylemark squatting , Chinese man of affairs Zhan Baoshengsuccessfully trademarkedthe English name “ Tesla ” in China , as well as Tesla ’s “ T ” logo , font , and Chinese transliterated name . ( Baosheng later settled with Tesla for an undisclosed amount . )
Be that as it may , DeepSeek ’s options are quite special at this juncture . Under U.S. law , the very first user of a stylemark is typically conceive that stylemark ’s rightful owner , unless it can be proven that the earmark was register in bad faith .
“ While DeepSeek could potentially seek a coexistence agreement if they can prove they operate in different aspect of AI than Delson Group , the U.S. company has several advantages , ” Josh Gerben , an attorney and the laminitis of Gerben IP , a law practice specialize in IP egress , told TechCrunch . “ They filed first , they claim earlier use — 2020 versus DeepSeek ’s claim 2023 startle particular date — [ and ] they have a live website show AI - touch activities , include training events . ”
Gerben enounce that Delson Group might even be able to exact “ reverse confusion ” due to DeepSeek ’s rapid acclivity to prominence , or process to jam DeepSeek from continuing to use its brand name in the U.S.
“ DeepSeek may actually have a earmark trouble in the United States where there could be this anterior rights bearer — Delson Group — and that prior rights holder may have a very honorable case for trademark violation , ” Gerben state .
It would n’t be the first time an AI companionship has run up against trademark headwinds .
OpenAIfailed to stylemark “ GPT”last February after the USPTO ruled that the condition was too generic . Over the past several month , OpenAIhas also been fightingtechnologist and entrepreneur Guy Ravine for the right wing to use “ Open AI , ” which Ravine claims he monger as a part of an “ open origin ” AI vision around 2015 — OpenAI ’s founding year .
