Facebook threatened with lawsuit over Libra rebrand

Chris Adelsbach, co-founder of fintech startup Diem, threatened to sue Facebook over the use of a similar name in renaming Libra Association. This was reported by Sifted.

Despite concerns about an imminent legal battle with Facebook, the platform sought legal counsel and nevertheless decided to file the suit.

“Facebook would not have needed much effort to determine whether there is another Diem in the financial services space. They clearly believed they could simply steamroll us,” said Adelsbach.

Diem CEO Jerry Koubi noted that his company was “stunned” to learn of Libra Association’s intention to rename itself to Diem.

“Our small startup is concerned that customer confusion resulting from Libra’s actions will significantly impact our growth,” he added.

Diem is awaiting a response from Facebook in the form of a so-called cease-and-desist letter. The startup did not specify against which legal entity it intends to sue: the London-based Facebook or the Diem Association in Geneva.

The London-based Diem startup was launched in October 2020 and has since attracted half a million subscribers. The platform allows users to instantly sell goods online and issues debit cards.

Facebook announced plans to rebrand Libra on December 1. On the same day, the Libra Association, which was developing the digital currency, changed its name to Diem Association.

The rebranding reflects the organization’s bid to distance itself from the original model of the global stablecoin introduced in June 2019, which provoked regulators’ ire worldwide.

Later, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz described the renamed Libra «wolf in sheep’s clothing» and said that the company would need “more than a rebranding” to ease regulators’ concerns.

In May, Facebook rebranded the wallet for Libra, renaming it from Calibra to Novi. This followed complaints by fintech startup Current over the use of a similar logo.

this is what happens when you only have 1 crayon left pic.twitter.com/2JY5JfesQD

— Current (@current) June 19, 2019

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