Chinese AI company DeepSeek is facing yet another legal
challenge, this time over a trade mark conflict in the U.S. The
company recently sought to trade mark its AI tools but found that a
Delaware-based firm, Delson Group Inc., (Delson) had applied for
the same name 36 hours earlier. Delson claims to have been using
the "DeepSeek" mark since 2020.
According to the USPTO's records, Delson has filed a number
of trade mark applications for marks belonging to major Chinese
companies, including GEELY (the Chinese car company), and CHINA
MOBILE (the Hong Kong-based telecommunications provider). This may
indicate a pattern of 'trade mark squatting'. However, in
this instance Delson does appear to have a live website that shows
AI-related training events, which could support their claim. As it
stands, they filed first and claim earlier use than DeepSeek (who
claim to have first use in 2023).
