

What to do when your startup gets sued by a big player - Cashsquare

Two years ago, I launched a social media gaming company called Cashsquare. Our small team set out to create the first real-life virtual game that lets people buy and sell real-life properties, but in a virtual gaming environment.<p>We wanted to bring online games to the real world and we did everything the right way. We brought together a talented team of developers and marketers, as well as individuals with years of experience in real estate development. We built a business plan. We found office space, which we shared to save costs. We secured our first round of investment. And we spent countless hours developing the game - all while legally dotting all of our i’s and crossing all of our t’s along the way. We were starting to see all of our efforts paying off.<p>Then, we got sued by Square, Inc. – the payment processing company. It turns out we were not the only victims. Square, Inc. also sued other startups with the word “square” in their names. Apparently, Square, Inc. feels that it has the monopoly on the word “square,” and it doesn’t matter that there’s no likelihood of confusion (to use the trademark parlance) between our real-life virtual game and Square Inc.’s payment processing business. It’s only a matter of time before Square, Inc. insists that Moscow’s Red Square or Beijing’s Tiananmen Square change their names.<p>What are we going to do?<p>We’re moving forward. We just launched our new version and our developers are pushing hard to make new features the next month. We feel we’ve invested a lot in our name and our brand, and we’re not backing down just because a larger company feels it can bully startups into submission.<p>This is a very realistic issue that many startups and founders may face. We are going to fight it and believe our startup will survive, because we do it for the love of the game.<p>We encourage all startups and founders to follow their passion and persevere in the face of adversity.<p>Boris 
Co-Founder, Cashsquare
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crazypyro
Its ridiculous to me that a company can attempt to trademark such a common
geometric shape's name. How did they get away with trademarking "Square"?

Edit: Holy crap. They've filed a TON of trademarks in a ton of different
categories. How have they gotten all of these? You technically can't use
Square in the name of anything dealing with a computer.

[http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:16h...](http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:16h7o5.7.5)

[http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:16h...](http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:16h7o5.7.6)

[http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:16h...](http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:16h7o5.7.4)

[http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:16h...](http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:16h7o5.7.13)

Just a few of them...

BTW, someone was granted "CodeSquare" trademark before those. Also FourSquare
was before those and covers much of the same legal wording. I doubt they have
a strong case against you, but IANAL. The fact that you use the word "Cash"
and they have multiple trademarks in the financial and computer payment space
may hurt your case though.

It gets more ridiculous... CodeSquare was granted a trademark in the Goods and
Services IC 042. US 100 101. G & S and then 2 years later, Square comes along
and trademarks "Square" in the exact same Goods and Services IC 042. US 100
101. G & S. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems like there is a contradiction. At
the very least, as a layman, it looks like some underhanded lawyer-ing that
they are now using offensively.

Lastly, Square (Aka Square Enix, the video game company) also has the
trademark "Square" and also is in Goods and Services IC 042. US 100 101. G &
S. So two companies own the "Square" trademark within a single category. I
have no idea how any of this actually works out in law, but the fact that
there is so much complexity and ambiguity is startling to me.

~~~
mcintyre1994
Just FYI your links seem to be to some kind of now expired session - not sure
if there's a link that lets us reproduce the search but they're definitely not
functional.

~~~
crazypyro
That's unfortunate. All of the links are just searching "Square, Inc" and live
only. Sorry that they aren't working and I can no longer edit.

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JSeymourATL
Here's a good read >

The best defense when a big company attacks a smaller company is to take the
fight to the press. America loves the little guy. It goes back to the colonies
and the Redcoats. It’s in our D.N.A.
[http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/defending-david-
aga...](http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/defending-david-against-
goliath/)

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loumf
Did you get sued or did you get a letter to stop using the name? It feels
unlikely that the first communication you'd get from them is notice of a
lawsuit.

IANAL, but ... Trademarks are one of those things where if you don't show
evidence of fighting misuse, you can lose the trademark. This force makes
lawyers and in-house counsel write these letters.

I do have to say that even though you are not a competitor of Square, the name
cashsquare is a little confusing. With no other context, I would have thought
it was related. Given trademark law and this name, it seems reasonable that
you'd receive a letter.

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ashleyp
You've listed a whole bunch of other reasons as to why your company is going
great, inpite of the name. I'm presuming the name's not the most important
thing? Sucks that money will be wasted on marketing and branding...but it's
better surely, to change that then risk loosing more? It's not fair. It's
shit. But it could be better to do now than 2 years down the line when the
name is more recognisable. Give it a fight if you can but I assume but the
most important thing is protecting the entire company, not a name :).

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alain94040
Why fight it? The problem is that you have cash in your name, and Square deals
with payments. So there is possible confusion. Just change your marketed name,
it will cost less than any other option you have. Unless your name is so
critical to the success of your game that you can't change it, but I assume
it's not.

~~~
kjs3
Certainly the easiest is a re-brand. In fact, I'd approach Square with "we're
willing to fight this, and it's going to cost both of us a lot of money...but
with a proper financial incentive from Square to cover the costs associated
with re-branding, we might be willing to entertain that option" (written in
lawyer-speak, of course). An acquaintances company was basically paid mid six
figures to change their name in somewhat similar circumstances, and they used
it as a opportunity to do some interesting things, marketing wise.

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Cashsquare
Hi Kj3, we have discussed this in one of our first conversation with Square,
however Square first considered this option and then just disappeared for a
while to then come back to sue us!

~~~
Spoom
So you substantiated their lawsuit by agreeing with them that there could be
brand confusion, by offering a compromise. Unfortunate.

~~~
Cashsquare
Spoom - We never agreed that our brands could be confused, because we are
nowhere close to what Square does. Games and processing is very different. But
to avoid costly lawsuits, losing focus and if the compensation would be right
(that would cover all our re-branding costs - 6 figures) we would consider
it...However i must underline that Square started using the brand "Square
Cash" just a couple months ago, which makes it very clear why Square really
wanted our brand name. as an example they use the email: cash@square.com.

~~~
Spoom
Don't get me wrong, I understand where you're coming from and at a glance it
looks like you're in the right, but their lawyers probably saw an opportunity
when you provided a compromise.

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rikkidi
Keep fighting, Boris! Although it is not always the company management's idea
to bully startups (some have lawyers that get paid by the hour so they come up
with cases) - it is still sad to see this happening... It would be nice to see
startups unite to resist this kind of pressure

~~~
Cashsquare
Thanks rikkidi for the support! :)

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RollAHardSix
Seriously, your answer is right here.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvlTJrNJ5lA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvlTJrNJ5lA)

Go contact a proper lawyer for more information on what to do legally.

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erdemg
Keep moving, you still have Foursquare!

~~~
shortsightedsid
And Hollywood Squares!

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yan_nazarov
Big company, lots of money!!! Expensive lawyers! That what big companies do!!!
Not nice Square!!!

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AlyssaRowan
I wonder what Square-Enix aka Squaresoft aka Square would think of all
this...?

~~~
crazypyro
Who knows? They both have patents on the same exact goods/services category.

[http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4808:lt2...](http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4808:lt25o2.5.184)

[http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:16h...](http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:16h7o5.7.4)

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paul_pashaev
Keep fighting, guys! All the best!!!

