The global investment banking company, Goldman Sachs, has announced that it is charging Bitman Sachs, a Jaipur-based cryptocurrency exchange, for violating their trademark name of Sachs and infringing intellectual property. The exchange, registered under Bitman Sachs LLP with a website called Bitsachs.com, has been warned of impending legal action that will be taken by US company Goldman Sachs.
Founder of Bitman Sachs, Ashish Agarwal, has reacted to the threatened lawsuit saying, “We are not using Goldman anywhere in our brand name and Sachs is a very common surname in Germany. So I don't know how this could be an infringement of intellectual property or trademark”.
Goldman Sachs defended the accusation saying that, “Sachs provides extensive financial services for clients in currency, cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies”. This means that both the financial company and the indian exchange are in the crypto investment and trading business. Bitman Sachs, relatively new, allows users to access different types of cryptocurrency, hold them simultaneously in their wallet, and exchange coins to currency on a peer-to-peer based platform. Popular coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple can be purchased on Bitman Sachs exchange.
Agarwal claims that his exchange is drafting a reply in cooperation with their legal team. He also says that he was surprised to hear of the lawsuit and the notice, stating, “What is interesting is that Goldman Sachs and its analysts have been panning Bitcoins and cryptocurrencies but in the legal notice they claim they themselves have interest in the business. This is bit strange for someone like me who is a big believer in future of Bitcoins and cryptocurrencies”. Cryptocurrencies work on the basis of decentralised systems which is a major part of their appeal.
There was no no sign of any social media response by Bitman Sachs to the allegations and notice served that same morning. The chairman of Goldman Sachs, India, Sonjoy Chatterjee and its Asia Pacific spokesperson received no reply either. The notice was sent on February 21st by US law firm Andrews Kurth Kenyon to Bitman Sachs’ founder Ashish Agarwal.
In the notice the following was stated as the misdoing on Bitman Sachs’ part, “The infringing mark is confusingly similar to Goldman Sachs Mark, as is also partially evidenced by your use of a company name that copies the ‘Man Sachs’ name. This was clearly intended to draw association with Goldman Sachs”.
One of the main reasons for the concern of similar sounding names is that Goldman believes that their clients may be confused. They are also worried that clients will associate Bitman with Goldman as a subsidiary of the larger firm. They do not wish to be affiliated, confused with, or associated in any way with Bitman Sachs.
Goldman’s head of global investment research, Steve Strongin, stated earlier in February that the value of many cryptocurrencies will plunge and eventually reach zero due to the instability and volatility of the market and system. However, as of the end of February, Goldman is investing in the crypto space and experimenting with crypto trading.
Many Indian cryptocurrency exchanges have had a hard time functioning in coexistence with the government and with the traditional banks. Over the last couple of months numerous tax raids, legal notices, and the suspension of numerous crypto company bank accounts have set them back quite a bit. Even traders and investors in cryptocurrency are not safe from the tax department who has sent notices to half a million investors.
#MTCX_India #Bitman #Goldman_Sachs #Jaipur-Based #India
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