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Extract from episode 05 –
Clubhouse Trademark Infringement and Why You Need to Protect Your Brand

“And as I mentioned, it’s called Clubhouse. Now, this app has become very, very popular. It actually has a valuation of $4 billion. That is pretty crazy. It’s a relatively new app. So in the app world, so it’ll be valued at $4 billion is pretty crazy. Now, what’s crazier is that clubhouse, the app doesn’t own its trademark, and it looked like they didn’t even apply for a trademark.

Right. So whether they did an initial search to see if the name was available or not, you know, trademarked already or not, I would guess know based on what’s happening now. But they basically just hit the ground running with the name Clubhouse, built a wildly successful app, and are now valued at the 4 billion. Here’s where the trouble starts.

There is a company, it’s actually SBC Consulting Group and they own the trademark for the clubhouse, all one word, the clubhouse. Right. So they actually launched their site in November 2018. That’s important because you gain first use rights when you start using the name in commerce, which is what they did there. You’re using the name in commerce in 2018, filed their trademark application in May of 2019, and it was accepted and filed registered later that year.

So they own that. The name, the clubhouse. So the clubhouse the clubhouse that the trademark is owned under is a networking site for sports business professionals. So a networking site for clubhouse, which is the app, which is an audio only you could argue networking platform. Right. So you can start to see the overlap, not just the name but the services as well.

Now SBC Consulting Group, the ones that own the clubhouse trademark, filed the suit against Clubhouse, which their business is Alpha Exploration Company, so filed a suit against them claiming trademark infringement because of obviously claiming they’re both networking sites but especially claiming that clubhouse the audio app has rooms titled Pro Sports Network and Sports Biz Professionals and Sports Networking Rights.”

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