A Spanish lawyer has registered the Bitcoin trademark and logo.
It is the registration M4046141 of Eduardo Pérez Montero with the Spanish Trade Mark Office, Oficina Española de Patentes y Marcas (OEPM).
As a result, the Bitcoin trademark and logo are now owned by Montero in Spain, although the registration process seems to have been completed by a compliance expert and commercial law lawyer, Ignacio Rubio Menéndez, on behalf of a client who has remained anonymous.
Menéndez’s anonymous client allegedly stated that the use of Bitcoin’s logo and trademark in Spain remains free, but that he could defend them against possible misuses.
“If someone uses it incorrectly, I will defend it”.
It appears that he is a bitcoin merchant, owner of a purchasing and sales office and this way he could protect bitcoin, at least in Spain, from the numerous scams that use Bitcoin’s name and logo incorrectly.
Menéndez also stated that his job is to provide protection to those who want to buy or sell bitcoin, so thanks to this registration he can continue to do so more effectively.
By owning this registration, he will be able to use it to make official complaints if the Bitcoin name and logo are used incorrectly in Spain.
The registered logo has a white capital B on an orange circle, referring to the Bitcoin protocol, while the dark grey text is lowercase because it refers to the bitcoin cryptocurrency.
Similar attempts have been made in the past, but with different objectives. In other words, there have been no successful attempts to register the Bitcoin trademark to exploit it commercially.
Instead, the trademark is released globally for public use (Creative Commons Public domain license), so registering it does not mean taking possession of it, but taking responsibility for protecting it.
