Facebook's Calibra Sued By Mobile Banking App Over Similar Logos

Facebook's Calibra is being sued for trademark infringement by mobile banking app Current, adding a potential legal showdown to the beleaguered Libra digital currency project's growing list of woes.

The complaint, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that the Calibra logo is too similar to Current's own, which the fintech firm has been using since August 2016.

Calibra is developing the Libra project's digital wallet.

Current is seeking a preliminary injunction and monetary damages.

"The infringing mark adopted and used by the Calibra Defendants is not only confusingly similar to, but virtually identical to the Current Marks."

Current is an alternative, app-based banking platform that in many respects shares Libra's goal of opening up financial services to the masses.

While Current's solution exists within the realms of traditional banking, Libra's sprawling vision of a digital currency-powered future is far more radical.

"It is suspicious that the defendant's logo came out of the same firm that created the plaintiff's logo," Howard Shire, a partner in the Intellectual Property Department of Pepper Hamilton LLP, told CoinDesk.

Current filed application for its logo on June 26, 2019, eight days after Facebook unveiled Libra project and branding.

In June, Current CEO Stuart Sopp told CNBC that Facebook was taking advantage of his much smaller firm.