Chinese AI firm DeepSeek is alleged to have stolen intellectual property, undergone privacy investigations in Europe, and has been hit by a massive cyberattack. It seems the company is now facing a new challenge: a trademark dispute in the U.S.
On Tuesday, DeepSeek submitted a request to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to trademark its AI chatbot applications, products, and tools. However, it was just a moment too late.
Thirty-six hours earlier, another firm had filed for the trademark “DeepSeek”: a Delaware-based company going by the name “Delson Group Inc.”
Delson Group claims that it has been marketing DeepSeek-branded AI products since the beginning of 2020. In its application, the firm specifies its location as a residence in Cupertino, with its CEO and founder identified as an individual named Willie Lu.
Lu, who unexpectedly graduated from the same university as DeepSeek’s founder Liang Wenfeng, Zhejiang University, states on his LinkedIn profile that he is a “semi-retired” consulting professor at Stanford as well as an FCC advisor. Lu appears to have dedicated the majority of his career to the wireless sector.
Lu additionally offers a “DeepSeek” educational course in Las Vegas titled “AI Super-Intelligence,” with tickets beginning at $800 — which is prominently featured on the website connected to Delson Group’s trademark application. The website asserts that Lu possesses “approximately 30 years of experience in the ICT [information and communications technology] and AI sectors.”
When contacted for a comment regarding the trademark filing email, Lu mentioned to TechCrunch that he would be open to “meet and talk” in either Palo Alto or Saratoga. (This journalist is located in NYC.) Lu did not reply to a subsequent inquiry.
A query for “Delson Group” in the USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Inquiry System reveals over two dozen conflicts between Lu and various entities, such as GSMA, Tencent, and TracFone Wireless. Delson has relinquished several trademarks it applied for, or otherwise withdrawn its ongoing applications.