In the world of intellectual property, timely registration of a trademark (TM) is critical to protecting a business and its assets. However, even large companies can make serious mistakes in this process. This is exactly what happened to DeepSeek, a company that failed to register its trademark in the United States in a timely manner, which led to significant legal and commercial risks. How did it happen that a promising brand lost the right to its own name? Why can this have serious consequences? And what lessons can be learned from this case? Let’s take a closer look at the situation around DeepSeek and the company’s miscalculations in the field of intellectual property protection.
Details of the situation and earnings on quick registrations of other people’s brands
On Tuesday, January 28, 2025, the Chinese startup DeepSeek filed an application for trademark registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (hereinafter – the USPTO), but it turned out that another company had already beaten them to the punch – and only by 36 hours.
According to Techcrunch, the first application for trademark registration was filed by a company called Delson Group Inc, which has been allegedly selling artificial intelligence products under the DeepSeek brand since early 2020. In the application, the company indicated that it is based in Cupertino (USA), and its CEO and founder is Willie Lu.
According to Lu’s LinkedIn profile, he has worked as a consulting professor at Stanford and is an advisor to the Federal Communications Commission. Lu graduated from the same university as the founder of China’s DeepSeek, Liang Wenfeng, from Zhejiang University.
TechCrunch journalists also discovered that Lu is conducting an educational course called “DeepSeek” in Las Vegas on “AI superintelligence”, the price of which starts at $800. The description of the course states that its founder has “approximately 30 years of experience in information and communication technologies and AI industries.”
Meanwhile, a search for “Delson Group” in the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s trademark query system reveals more than two dozen disputes between Lu and organizations such as the GSMA, Tencent, and TracFone Wireless. The company itself has abandoned some of the trademarks for which it had filed applications or canceled pending requests.
A detailed review of the USPTO’s trademarks revealed a total of 28 marks owned by Delson – and some of them are actually owned by large Chinese companies (for example, Lu’s company has registered the Geely and China Mobile trademarks).
All of these details indicate that the company is likely to quickly register the TM for the purpose of further resale, taking advantage of the brand’s popularity. A similar model of “work” was once used by Chinese businessman Zhan Baosheng, who successfully registered the TM of the English name “Tesla” in China, as well as the Tesla “T” logo, font and Chinese transliterated name (later he agreed with Tesla on resale for an undisclosed amount).
“DeepSeek may actually have a problem with the TM in the United States, where the previous owner of the rights, the Delson Group, may come forward and make a strong case for infringement,” says Josh Gerben, attorney and founder of Gerben IP. “They were the first to file and claim to have used it earlier – 2020 versus DeepSeek’s claimed early 2023 – and they have a live website that shows AI-related activities, including training events.” In fact, OpenAI itself was in a similar situation, unable to register the GPT trademark after the USPTO recognized the term as too general. Over the past few months, Sam Altman’s startup has also been fighting for the right to use the phrase “Open AI” with technologist and entrepreneur Guy Ravin.
DeepSeek’s problems are not over
White House and FBI officials are investigating whether Chinese AI startup DeepSeek purchased advanced semiconductors from Nvidia Corp. through third parties in Singapore to circumvent U.S. restrictions.
A Nvidia spokesperson said that the company insists that its partners comply with all applicable laws, assuring that if it receives any information to the contrary, the company will act accordingly.
Earlier, Nvidia issued a statement regarding DeepSeek, in which it noted that it believed that the Chinese startup did not violate US restrictions.
Howard Luthnick, Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Commerce, suggested on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, that DeepSeek had evaded US export controls. According to him, DeepSeek has bought a lot of Nvidia chips that run their AI model. “This has to stop. If they plan to compete with us, let them compete, but stop using our tools to do so,” Lutnick said.
The DeepSeek R1 AI model, released in early January 2025 by the Hangzhou-based company, can mimic human thinking, which is a potential danger to a market dominated by OpenAI and American competitors.
The situation with DeepSeek clearly demonstrates how important it is to register trademarks in a timely manner, especially in the US market, where competition and patent law have their own peculiarities. The loss of rights to your own brand can cause not only legal difficulties but also serious financial losses and reputational risks. This case is a valuable lesson for companies entering the international market: protecting intellectual property should be a strategic priority, and the process of registering a trademark is one of the first steps on the road to success.
artificial intelligence / copyright / DeepSeek / intellectual property / trademark
