AI titan DeepSeek faces a burgeoning challenge in the U.S. with a looming trademark dispute. In a race against time, DeepSeek sought U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) approval for its AI tools and services. Unfortunately, it lost out to another application for the “DeepSeek” trademark by Delaware-based Delson Group Inc., which was made over a day before.
Asserting its earlier usage of the DeepSeek name for AI products since 2020, Delson Group’s claim is backed by its CEO Willie Lu, coincidentally an alumnus of the same Zhejiang University that DeepSeek’s founder, Liang Wenfeng graduated from. Lu’s profile points to a career steeped in the wireless industry, with wireless courses, lectures, and an AI Super-Intelligence educational course under the DeepSeek brand to his credit.
Despite Delson Group’s strong position – it filed first, boasts earlier usage and has an active website showcasing AI-related activities, Josh Gerben, an Intellectual Property expert, pegs them as a “trademark squatter.” Gerben’s assertion appears justified with over two dozen disputes linked to Delson Group found in the USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Inquiry System.
Despite the potential for DeepSeek to argue coexistence on the premise of different AI aspects to Delson Group, the evidence stands against them. The U.S. law traditionally grants ownership rights to the first user of a trademark. DeepSeek’s trademark quagmire brings to the forefront OpenAI’s stumble with the trademark “GPT”, and the struggle with Guy Ravine over “Open AI.”
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