Facebook could run into legal trouble after renaming its upcoming crypto project to Diem – a name already in use by a London fintech firm.

The financial app Diem is threatening to sue Facebook and its partners for copying names and informs the Sifted news agency that their lawyers are preparing measures.

The Libra Association, which is preparing to launch the digital currency, announced last Tuesday that it had renamed itself the Diem Association. This is intended to help the project deviate from its original format, which has already received evil looks from regulators.

In a statement, Geri Cupi, founder and CEO of Diem said: “We were surprised on December 1st to learn that Facebook’s Libra decided to rename Diem … action will have a huge impact on our growth.”

The Diem app enables consumers to sell their properties right away instead of waiting for people to bid on eBay and offers several types of digital deposit services. Users also get their own DIEM accounts and debit cards, creating what the company calls the “Bank of Things”.

Diem app is now available for Android and IOS

The company started in October and already has almost 500,000 followers on Instagram. It’s a pre-seed started by Cupi who started out with a blockchain company.

Diems other investors include Chris Adelsbach, one of the best-known fintech investors in Europe.

He told Sifted that the company was seriously debating whether to compete against a giant like Facebook. “We thought we could give in and we’re just a small business or we should fight for what’s right.”

Aldelsbach said legal experts advised them to protect the Diem brand.

“It won’t take Facebook long to find out if there is another Diem brand in the financial services space. They clearly believed that because we are Facebook, we can destroy anything. “

Chris Adelsbach, a prominent fintech investor in Europe – including DIEM. “DIEM existed before the Diem Association existed,” he told Sifted.

If the litigation continues, it will be the latest in a series of roadblocks to Facebook’s cryptocurrency project, which has seen dramatic downtime and delays in getting the business up and running.

It’s also not the first lawsuit the company has faced. Their payment unit, formerly Calibra, had to switch to Novi Financial for the same reason.

As for DIEM, your first step will be a letter requesting an injunction and de-branding. Where the battle goes will ultimately be a matter of what resources are to be tracked and whether Facebook will offer a comparison.

Zhang Fei

According to Sifted

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