According to H&R Block, the Square name change exploits the company’s reputation built over many ye and is already confusing customers.
American tax preparation services firm H&R Block has filed a lawsuit against Jack Dorsey’s Block (formerly Square) over the latter’s recent name change. According to reports, H&R Block issued the trademark infringement suit accusing the digital payments platform of causing confusion among customers. The tax company further added that the situation is all the more disadvantageous, considering that it also intends to venture into financial services.
The Lawsuit
The lawsuit is asking Dorsey’s Block to desist from using its name and the nearly identical green square logo. H&R Block asserts that it has invested billions of dollars in building a globally recognized and trusted brand identity. In addition, the income tax preparation firm believes that Dorsey’s platform wants to capitalize on the proven ‘Block’ moniker. The company filed the lawsuit with the US District Court for the Western District of Missouri. According to company President and CEO Jeff Jones, “today’s filing is an important effort to prevent consumer confusion and ensure a competitor cannot leverage the reputation and trust we have built over more than six decades. Protecting and defending our brand is crucial.”
Part of the lawsuit also read that H&R Block is currently “under attack by a Silicon Valley fintech company.” Jones further stated that since Square rebranded to block two weeks ago, strong indicators already reveal customers are linking both companies. In its complaint, H&R Block said:
“Block Inc.’s name change will deceive consumers and cause irreparable harm to Block. Consumers will mistakenly believe that Block is one of the ‘building blocks’ in the Block Inc. family of financial services companies.”
H&R added the moniker ‘Block’ to its brand in 2015 and believes that it now rivals Dorsey’s Block for market share. According to the firm, this is especially since Square acquired Cash App Taxes (then called Credit Karma Tax) last year.
Square Rebranded to Block as Part of Evolutionary Process
Earlier this month, Square announced its intention to change its business name to Block, effective from December 10th. The Jack Dorsey-founded and led payment platform deemed this necessary due to its evolution over the last decade. In addition to providing digital payment routes and financial services, Square also offers various other products including CashApp, and TBD. Furthermore, the payments platform also provides a disparate service in the form of its music streaming service Tidal.
Dorsey, who revealed the name change just days after exiting his role as Twitter CEO, said Block captured the new essence. He emphasized that the name Square strictly suited the brand’s seller business, but Block references the neighborhood block. According to Dorsey, this houses sellers, a blockchain, block parties full of music, building blocks, obstacles to overcome, and a section of code.
However, Dorsey also stated that the business’s core fundamentals will remain the same despite the name change.
This year, social media giant Facebook also rebranded and changed its name. The Mark Zuckerberg-led tech company now goes by the name Meta Platforms Inc.
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