Fintech Agency Cinkciarz.pl Wins Decade-Lengthy Trademark Dispute

Cinkciarz.pl Resolves Decade-Long Court Case
The fintech startup Cinkciarz.pl, situated in Poland, has prevailed in a ten-year legal battle against another online currency exchange that used competitor-related keywords in its advertising. The guilty party was ordered by the court to pay Cinkciarz.pl restitution of PLN 2 million (about EUR 440,000), among other things. The case concerned the use of misspellings of the keywords “cinkciarz” and “cinkciarz.pl” in order to promote rival websites in search engines. The defendant, Forex One, threatened further legal action before the Polish Supreme Administrative Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) by arguing that the “cinkciarz” trademark was illegal. Forex One contended that the word “cinkciarz,” which has historically been used to characterise someone engaged in illicit money exchange, was descriptive of these services and shouldn’t be protected as a trademark. Both courts happily rendered decisions for Cinkciarz.pl, demonstrating that the word “cinkciarz” had no linguistic connotation at the time and may be used as a trademark and business name. The court ordered Forex One to post an apology on their websites for a month and to stop using the terms “cinkciarz,” “cinkciarz.pl,” or any similar phrases as keywords for Google advertisements. Additionally, the corporation was required to return 80% of Cinkciarz.pl’s legal fees, pay Cinkciarz.pl over PLN 2 million (EUR 440,000), and donate PLN 40,000 (€ 8,800) to a selected charity.
This case highlights the unethical use of similar phrases or misspellings in conjunction with a competitor’s trademarks for Google Ads. This ruling demonstrates the seriousness of internet trademark infringements as well as the ways in which businesses can protect themselves from these unethical activities.
Cinkciarz.pl Advances
In order to provide retail foreign exchange (FX) and contracts for difference (CFD) trading services governed by CySEC, Cinkciarz.pl formed a subsidiary in 2017 called Conotoxia. In 2022, Conotoxia’s turnover increased by 5% to $8.29 billion, demonstrating its performance across a range of businesses and services. Furthermore, Conotoxia revealed a record number of active user accounts that increased by about 2.5 times.
A low-barrier-to-entry investing consulting service was made available to European retail traders by Conotoxia in March. Retail traders can receive individualised investing advice on certain financial instruments through this service.
Ireneusz Pukin was selected by Conotoxia this year to take Daniel Kostecki’s place as the new Director of the Polish branch. Daniel previously held the position since 2021.