Chia Network threatens The Chia Plot with trademark enforcement.

**Additional threats have been made by Chia Networks. It is becoming clear that their intention here is to bully me into capitulation.**

*** Update to the story, my lawyer has responded to Chia Networks ***

This morning I received a threatening, albeit friendly, email from the Head of IP for the Chia Network claiming that this blog was in violation of the Chia Network’s trademark and that I had to change the name of this blog. They are, of course, incorrect and I will not be renaming The Chia Plot. A quick search on the Canadian Trademark Registration portal does not even show CHIA as a registered trademark for the Chia Network.

While this is amusing, and this blog has been up for less than a week, lots of people will not be quite so sure of how Trademark works, and will feel obligated to stop using the word “Chia” and abandon whatever investment they have made because an over-zealous open source project think they own a word.

If anyone from The Chia Project is reading this: stop. Stop threatening the people in your community with unenforceable demand letters. Stop acting like you own a common word. Educate yourselves on how intellectual property protection works.

Below is the correspondence so far regarding this issue.

Chris,   I write to you on behalf of the Chia Network Inc.  First and foremost, allow me to thank you for your efforts in educating and expanding the Chia community through your blog and discussions. We support open discourse and free exchange of information.   Still, it is important to Chia Network to protect its trademarks. Unauthorized use of Chia Network’s registered CHIA mark, or iits logos exposes community members to potential scammers, misleading and confusing them. Therefore, it is essential that all users of the CHIA marks, logos, or the Chia Network name obtain a royalty free permission to use the CHIA marks. Simply put, you may not continue using the CHIA mark in your domain name, <thechiaplot.net,> or anywhere, without securing a written permission from Chia Network.   We must ask you to contact us immediately, and no later than May 28, 2021 by replying to this email, so that we may resolve this matter amicably, and you are able to continue to strengthen the community we all care about.      I look forward to hearing from you,   Head of IP

And my response

Hi,   You seem to have a very distorted idea of how trademark protection works. You do not, and will not own the word “chia”.   I will not be changing the name. You also have no leg to stand on to make anyone change their name unless they are developing a competing cryptocurrency using your registered marks. Which I couldn’t find by the way, an you please send me your registration numbers, and classes of protection.   For an open source project to be threating blogs with trademark protection, this is not a good look. You should seriously reconsider your plans for trademark protection and stop threatening people.   I await your apology.   Chris Dupres

I will update this as the story unfolds.

Edit: 11:19am May 25, 2021

I have found the Canadian Trademark application for CHIA by the Chia Network and it is available here: Canadian Trademarks Details: CHIA — 1907024 – Canadian Trademarks Database – Intellectual property and copyright – Canadian Intellectual Property Office – Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

It appears that the mark is valid for Application Software involving Blockchain, Financial Services involving Cryptocurrency and Computer services involving blockchain technologies. I do not believe The Chia Plot is involved in any of these activities.

Edited: 8:51pm May 25, 2021

Removed all personal information for Chia Network employees.