Ripple Registers Trademark For A Potentially New Payment Offering Called “PayString”

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Ripple Registers Trademark For A Potentially New Payment Offering Called “PayString”
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Ripple, the San Francisco-headquartered fintech firm with strong ties to XRP cryptocurrency, has filed a trademark for a possible new payment product dubbed “PayString”. The application was filed on November 6 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

However, some community members are suggesting that this is not a new product but a strategic and tactical rebrand.

Ripple Trademarks “PayString”

The trademark application was accepted by USPTO on Friday (Nov.13) but there is no much information provided. Per the description, PayString will be used in “electronic financial services, namely monetary services for receiving and disbursing remittances and monetary gifts in fiat currencies and virtual currencies over a computer network and for exchanging fiat currencies and virtual currencies over a computer network.”

This falls in line with Ripple’s current business model which involves providing distributed ledger technology (DLT) to payment providers and banks worldwide for their cross-border payments. Some of these firms utilize Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency.

The most interesting thing about this new trademark registration, however, is that it bears huge similarities to Ripple’s “PayID” trademark filed earlier this year.

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Is The New PayString Trademark A Replacement For PayID?

Ripple enthusiasts have noted that the PayString trademark has the same description as PayID which Ripple filed with the U.S trademark office in June this year. One fan opined that the payments firm will change the name of its PayID service to PayString due to trademark infringement.

In August, New Payments Platform Australia (NPPA) — a public company owned by 13 leading financial institutions in Australia — dragged Ripple to court over claims of infringement of the PayID trademark. The blockchain firm agreed to rename its trademark so as to continue offering its services to Australian customers.

This implies that Ripple’s new PayString trademark could, indeed be a rebrand aimed at helping the firm steer clear of intellectual property infringement lawsuits.