The Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek, which has faced accusations of intellectual property theft, privacy investigations in Europe, and a massive cyberattack, is now dealing with a new challenge: a potential legal battle over its trademark in the United States.
On Tuesday, DeepSeek filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to register its name in connection with its AI products and tools. However, the company was caught off guard. Just 36 hours earlier, another entity, Delson Group Inc., based in Delaware, had registered the same name, “DeepSeek.”
According to Delson Group, the company has been marketing artificial intelligence products under the DeepSeek brand since early 2020. Its application lists an address in Cupertino and names its founder and CEO as Willie Lu.
Interestingly, Lu attended Zhejiang University, the same institution where DeepSeek’s founder, Liang Wenfeng, graduated. On his LinkedIn profile, Lu describes himself as a “semi-retired” consulting professor at Stanford and an advisor to the FCC, with a professional background in the wireless industry. Investigations by TechCrunch, based on the email address linked to the trademark application, reveal that Lu has participated in conferences and training sessions on wireless standards.
Additionally, Lu offers an educational course called “DeepSeek” in Las Vegas, focused on “AI superintelligence,” with an entry price starting at $800. This course is prominently featured on the website linked to Delson Group’s trademark application, which also claims that Lu has approximately 30 years of experience in information technology and artificial intelligence.
When asked for a comment on the trademark application, Lu told TechCrunch he was willing to “meet and talk” in Palo Alto or Saratoga, but he did not respond to a follow-up request.
Josh Gerben, an intellectual property attorney and founder of Gerben IP, described Delson Group as a “trademark squatter,” a term used for individuals or companies that register trademarks intending to sell them later or profit from another company’s success.
Lu’s past actions seem to support this claim. A search for “Delson Group” in the USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board database reveals more than two dozen legal disputes between Lu and organizations such as GSMA, Tencent, and TracFone Wireless.
In this scenario, DeepSeek is facing a tough situation. Under U.S. law, the first entity to use a trademark is typically considered its rightful owner unless it can be proven that the registration was made in bad faith.
“DeepSeek could negotiate a coexistence agreement if it can prove that it operates in a different sector of the AI market than Delson Group,” Gerben explained. “However, Delson Group has several advantages: they filed the application first, claim to have used the mark since 2020 (three years before DeepSeek), and have a live website showcasing AI-related activities, including training events.”
Gerben also pointed out that Delson Group could argue “reverse confusion” due to DeepSeek’s rapid rise to fame or even file a lawsuit to prevent the Chinese company from using the brand in the U.S.
“DeepSeek is facing a serious trademark issue in the U.S., where Delson Group may hold prior rights to the name and could have a strong case for trademark infringement,” the attorney concluded.
This type of dispute is not new in the artificial intelligence sector. OpenAI, for instance, failed to register the “GPT” trademark last February after the USPTO ruled that the term was too generic. Additionally, OpenAI has been engaged in an ongoing legal battle with entrepreneur Guy Ravine, who claims he used “Open AI” as part of an open-source AI initiative dating back to 2015, the same year OpenAI was founded.
By: Nestor Castillo, ForAllTechNews Director