Online cryptocurrency casino Stake.com has denied breaching the trademarks of Australian share trading platform Stake, arguing it even pulled its logo from the Formula 1 team it sponsors at last year’s Melbourne Grand Prix to avoid problems.
Stake.com, which operates from Melbourne but is unavailable to gamblersin Australia, claims in its defence to the other Stake lawsuit that its racing team, Alfa Romeo, rebranded its cars and uniforms. Instead of Stake, they sported logos for Kick, an associated livestreaming platform.
If any markers from Stake.com were still visible, the crypto casino’s lawyers argued in a filing, “such display was incidental and appeared unconnected with any of the respondents’ services.
The lawsuit, which was filed last year and is grinding toward a trial, poses a major risk to both sides. Both businesses have made major investments in their brands, and will not want to change them.
Stake.com is not allowed to offer its cryptocurrency betting in Australia, but it is popular in lightly regulated jurisdiction overseas, and it has applied for a traditional wagering license here. Its Australian co-founder, Ed Craven, was estimated to have a fortune of more than $3 billion by The Australian Financial Review Rich List last year and his business partner, Bijan Tehrani, would have a similar amount.
Share trading platform Stake already allows customers to buy cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds, though its plans to offer cryptocurrency directly on its platform appear to have been shelved.
The lawsuit shows that the Stake held talks about the casino buying the stockbroker’s name in Australia in late 2022, but they went nowhere.
Stake.com has become prominent internationally through sponsorships of Premier League football teams, pop stars and the F1 team, which appear to have alarmed the smaller company.
Its lawsuit alleges that customers will be misled or deceived into believing that stockbroker Stake has some role in Stake.com’s apparel store, which is available in Australia.
It also says there are threats of future misleading or deceptive conduct in the form of Stake.com’s potential entry into the Australian market, alleging it failed to fully remove its name from the F1 team last year.
A spokesman for the share-trading Stake said it was determined to protect its trusted brand, under which it had over $3 billion in assets held for customers.
“The Stake brand is integral to all parts of our business, spanning products, internal culture, customer interactions and much more, making it our most valuable asset,” the spokesman said.
Stake.com’s “threatened use” of the same name could cause “harmful customer confusion and damage to our brand and reputation,” he said. “We are therefore undertaking legal action against the Stake.com companies in the Federal Court of Australia.”
A spokesman for Stake.com said the claim was “frivolous” and noted that its opponent had trademarks for use with share investing and gift cards in Australia.
“We can confirm that, to date, no one has tried to buy a share or purchase a gift card through any of our global platforms,” the spokesman said.
“We are proud of the global Stake.com brand, which trades successfully around the world. As a group, we abide by the laws of the countries in which we operate, and do not offer this platform to Australian customers.”
Its legal filings deny most of the stockbroker’s claims, outright, calling some relating to its future business plans “vague and embarrassing and liable to be struck out.”
The Australian Financial Review reported late last year that a company associated with Stake.com, called EasyGo Gaming, had built a substantial stake in local online betting company PointsBet.
The trademark case is set for its next interim hearing on March 6.