[UPDATE: it appears that Chia Network agreed to retract its demands against the blogger. See: https://thechiaplot.net/2021/06/09/chia-networks-drops-all-claims-against-the-chia-plot/ ]
Most trademark disputes involve competitors (or companies operating in arguably related areas). However, occasionally a trademark complaint will arise where the trademark owner is not seeking to prevent a competitor from using a similar mark, but rather is attempting to prevent a blogger or reporter from distributing critical commentary about the company.
A dispute in the news today involving the blockchain company Chia Network (www.chia.net) appears to fall in (or close to) the latter category. According to reports, Chia sent a cease and desist email to a blogger who had recently started distributing a blog with critical commentary about Chia at the domain name www.thechiaplot.net. Chia allegedly advised the blogger that he could not continue using the CHIA mark in his domain name “or anywhere” without Chia’s written permission. After refusing Chia’s demands, it appears that the dispute escalated and the blogger has now retained a lawyer to defend him. See:
https://www.coindesk.com/chia-legal-chris-dupres-trademark
In the US, courts would likely reject an attempt to prevent a reporter or blogger from merely using a trademark in a reporting context, depending of course on the particular facts and circumstances of the case (e.g. assuming that the use of the mark is made merely for commentary purposes and not as part of a commercial effort to profit from the mark). For example, there was a case where a blogger posted a critical article concerning his experience with BidZirk, an auction listing company. BidZirk filed a lawsuit, and the court ruled in favor of the blogger, holding that the blogger was immunized under the "news reporting" defense. See: http://www.internetlibrary.com/cases/lib_case515.cfm
While all of the facts about the Chia dispute are not yet known, one initial lesson that can be learned from this dispute is: trademark owners would be wise to tread carefully when it comes to enforcing their rights where the complained of usage may qualify as news reporting or fair use, as even the appearance of being a ‘trademark bully’ may outweigh any potential benefits of removing the content in question (and the pursuit of such a claim may lead to the unintended consequence of drawing much more attention to the content than otherwise would have been the case).
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