I saw jet cash bring up copyright issues a while back, and I kinda brushed it off. But the name itself is from Latin for pound, which might be under royal copyright. So this could lead to (1) Facebook facing a lawsuit from the UK for using it, or (2) a way more probable scenario where a bunch of scams pop up using the libra name or something bad happening to it in broader Europe.
I tried looking through patents for anything about financial stuff but came up empty, and I doubt there’s even a category for that.
If this has already been discussed, just drop a link and I'll close this thread.
i don't think copyrights apply to such terms. if they do, the term entered the public domain a very long time ago. https://www.gov.uk/copyright/how-long-copyright-lasts
a trademark wouldn't really apply either since the pound sterling is not a product or service. not to mention, the UK government doesn't even use the term.
i don't see existing intellectual property as a big concern for libra. they've got much bigger problems.
You might be mixing copyright laws with trademark laws in this situation. Copyright is mostly about artistic work protection while trademark laws is about protection of a company's brand or business. If the term "Libra" is copyrighted it doesn't mean that they are also protected by trademark laws since they aren't related to even the same industry or have the same coverage. Basically if they want to use any word there to be their upcoming brand or product they can used it as long as it is not used by any other company or protected by copyright.
Best Example I can give you how trademark law works is the Italian Company named "Steve Jobs" where even Apple didn't win in case.
If Libra is the Latin equivalent word to the English Pound, then I guess it won't fall under the royal copyright on Pound. I believe copyrights or more accurately trademarks do not cover translations in different languages.
Well, if Facebook is taken to court over the word then, as hinted by figmentofmyass, it is going to be one of their smallest legal battles.
As to the word Libra being used by scams, it has already happened a long time ago, way back when the project was still in its earliest stages.
This is nothing but a stunt for them to ride on, imagine Philippine Peso has the same name as Mexican Peso, it has the same currency but were there any copyright that have been sanctioned by both parties? This legal proceeding regarding copyright is just a farce in my honest opinion.
Well, this did happen, but I'm not sure what happened with it:
I do agree it's the least of their problems though, if it's a problem at all lol.
As for the topic itself, this (from the same article) may be relevant:
Translations or not Libra being a brand name or a cryptocurrency is not covered by trademarked law even if it is copyrighted (refer to my post above). But if in this case the UK government will come after the "Libra" name I believe translations are not covered by it simply because the name "Libra" is the origin of Pound not the other way around they can say everything they want but translations aren't covered by copyright in terms of its origin.
No, I'm saying the Pound originally was called Libra (or livra) English is only the langue we use now because some royal forced everyone to learn it... Before then we had Latin, pictish, cumbric, ancient Welsh...
Although on the same context the idea wasn't original to start with since I assume libra was the unit of weight (equivelant to the pound - lb).