Alibaba Group Holding Limited and the organization behind Alibabacoin reached a worldwide settlement reported on March 11, 2019. ABBC agreed not to use trademarks containing “ALIBABA” worldwide, expressed regret for confusion caused by its former Alibabacoin branding, and used ABBC Coin as the cryptocurrency’s name. The public announcement did not disclose a settlement amount or say that Alibaba acquired ABBC or the coin.
What the Alibaba–ABBC settlement covered
The dispute was between Alibaba Group Holding Limited and entities associated with the cryptocurrency branded Alibabacoin. The litigation named ABBC Blockchain IT Solutions LLC—also styled ABBC Block Chain IT Solutions LLC—and the ABBC Foundation, formerly called the Alibabacoin Foundation, among other defendants. The court record lists additional defendants, including Alibabacoin Foundation LLC, Alibabacoin General Trading FZE, Jason Daniel Paul Philip, and Hasan Abbas. The court’s opinion identifies the parties and case background.
Reuters reported the settlement on March 11, 2019, in Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd v. Alibabacoin Foundation et al., Southern District of New York case No. 18-02897. A related public statement was also reported around March 12. The announced terms concerned the name and branding, not a transfer of the cryptocurrency project. Reuters’ report via Yahoo News describes the agreement and the parties’ positions.
Why Alibaba sued
Alibaba alleged that the defendants used its protected marks, names, symbols, and confusingly similar branding to promote and sell a cryptocurrency called AlibabaCoin or Alibabacoin. Its complaint included claims of trademark infringement, unfair competition, false advertising, false designation of origin, and trademark dilution. These were allegations, not findings that every claim had been proved. The complaint and court record set out the claims.
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Alibaba argued that the branding could lead consumers and investors, particularly in the United States, to believe the cryptocurrency was connected to Alibaba. Reuters reported Alibaba’s allegation that the offering had raised more than $3.5 million; that figure was an allegation, not an independently audited total. ABBC disputed that it was trying to exploit Alibaba’s brand. Among its arguments, it said the name referred to the fictional Ali Baba character and contended that China’s 2017 ban on initial coin offerings reduced the likelihood of confusion there. Those competing positions help explain the dispute but do not establish a final judicial finding on the merits.
How the case progressed
| Date | Event | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| April 2, 2018 | Alibaba filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. | The case began as a U.S. federal trademark dispute. The docket summary gives the filing date and case details. |
| April 3, 2018 | The court issued a temporary restraining order concerning use of Alibaba’s marks and confusingly similar marks in the United States. | This was an initial, temporary measure, not a final decision on liability. The docket summary records the order. |
| April 30, 2018 | Judge J. Paul Oetken dissolved the temporary restraining order and denied Alibaba’s preliminary-injunction motion without prejudice. | The court found Alibaba had not made an adequate showing of personal jurisdiction at that stage. The ruling was not a decision that ABBC’s branding was lawful. Document 59 explains the ruling. |
| October 22, 2018 | The court later granted Alibaba’s application for a preliminary injunction. | This was a significant interim ruling, but the case still ended by settlement rather than a final trial verdict. See Document 137. |
| November 7, 2018 | The court denied the ABBC defendants’ motion to dismiss. | The case was allowed to proceed; denial of dismissal was not itself a final finding of infringement. See Document 140. |
| March 11, 2019 | The parties’ worldwide settlement was reported. | The public terms focused on ending the disputed Alibaba branding. |
What ABBC agreed to do
The publicly announced settlement said ABBC would not use trademarks containing the term “ALIBABA” worldwide. ABBC also expressed regret for public confusion arising from its former use of “Alibabacoin.” The cryptocurrency was referred to as ABBC Coin after the settlement. Reuters’ report describes these announced terms; an ABBC-syndicated statement also announced the worldwide resolution.
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The wording concerns ABBC’s trademarks and the former cryptocurrency branding. It should not be expanded into a claim that every use of the word “Alibaba” by anyone, in every context, was prohibited. Nor does an expression of regret, on its own, establish an admission of intentional infringement or legal liability.
What the settlement did not establish
- No disclosed payment figure: The parties did not publicly disclose detailed settlement terms, including any amount paid, licensing terms, releases, or other provisions. Contemporary coverage noted that the details were not public. See CCN and CoinSpeaker. That absence of public detail does not prove that no money changed hands.
- No announced acquisition: The public settlement announcement did not say Alibaba acquired ABBC Foundation, ABBC Blockchain IT Solutions, ABBC Coin, or the underlying project.
- No verified transfer of control or endorsement: The available public statements do not establish that Alibaba took control of ABBC’s technology or operated, endorsed, or authorized the cryptocurrency.
- No final verdict on every claim: The settlement followed interim court rulings, but it should not be described as a final judicial determination that Alibaba won every issue or that ABBC admitted infringement.
Some cryptocurrency publications speculated about a possible acquisition, but that was speculation, not a confirmed settlement term. Reports discussing those theories include TechBullion and TheTradable. The public announcement established a branding restriction and an expression of regret, not a corporate transaction.
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Why the distinction matters
A trademark settlement and a cryptocurrency acquisition are different events. The announced agreement addressed how ABBC could brand its project; it did not establish who owned the token, its technology, or its operations after the dispute. Likewise, the worldwide scope of the reported branding agreement should not be confused with the territorial scope of the U.S. lawsuit, which concerned alleged use and consumer confusion affecting the United States.
For readers assessing claims about the project, the practical takeaway is to separate the confirmed name change from claims about investment, technical, regulatory, or operational status. A token being called ABBC Coin after a trademark settlement does not, by itself, establish any of those broader facts.
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