X-Spot Global Limited, a company owned by Huobi Global Exchange (now HTX) co-founder Leon Li, has filed a preliminary injunction against Huobi Global to stop using the Chinese language “Huobi” trademark in Hong Kong. You won.
A recent ruling by the Hong Kong High Court banned the HTX exchange from using the brand name Huobi (火幣) and the Chinese business name “Hua必”, which are “confusingly similar” to Hong Kong’s English trademark. Mr. Kong is awaiting a final trial on this matter. Presiding judge Mimmie Chan J wrote:
“At this stage I do not see any arguable defense to the plaintiff’s trademark infringement claim and there is no need to consider the balance of propriety or convenience of damages for granting an injunction as submitted by the plaintiff’s counsel.” .”
According to court documents, the Huobi trademark was registered in Hong Kong in 2019. In September 2022, Huobi Global was sold by co-founders Leon Li and Du Jun to About Capital Management, an entity linked to Chinese blockchain celebrity Justin Sun.
However, according to court documents, the Huobi trademark was assigned or fully transferred rights to Leon’s X-Spot Global Limited prior to the September 2022 acquisition, with “no dispute” by either party. In July 2023, X-Spot Global sued Huobi Global in Hong Kong for trademark infringement. At that time, Huobi Global decided “It is trademarked in many jurisdictions around the world, so you are entitled to use it freely.”
Previously, Cointelegraph reported that in May 2023, Justin Sun published a series of allegations against Leon Li’s brother, Wei Li. In the tweet, Sun accused Wei Li of receiving millions of Huobi tokens for free through “unusual means” and “continuously selling and cashing out these HT tokens.” Lin Li responded, “I hope Huobi can provide evidence. If it is confirmed that the HT obtained through illegal methods costs absolutely nothing, we will pay 10 times the HT (amount) directly to the Huobi company.”
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