Essential has been accused of trademark infringement by Spigen, and it seems that the company may have been aware of the situation according to a new report, as well as documented details that Essential was initially denied a trademark for the term Essential based on possible confusion with Spigen’s trademark which was initially granted in August of last year. The report also states that Essential was denied the trademark for a potential company name – Essential Products. While the company name is now simply Essential without the word products in the title, Spigen has now reportedly sent Essential a Cease and Desist letter asking it to stop using the term.
According to Spigen’s complaints about the use of the term, consumers may become confused about products from the new company since Spigen already holds a trademark for the word Essential, which it uses for various different product types including Bluetooth headphones, battery packs, wall charger adapters, battery cases, and USB hubs. While it’s uncertain how this will play out exactly, it’s not likely that Spigen is going to let this go and it will probably continue to pursue action against Essential for infringement. On the other hand, Essential isn’t likely to let things go either, considering they’ve already announced their first couple of products which carry the Essential term as part of their product name.
Moreover, Essential doesn’t seem to view this as infringement of a trademark, as they have reportedly stated that they believe Spigen’s claims are without merit, referring to them as “assertions” and stating that threat letters are commonplace in this industry, which basically refers to Spigen’s Cease and Desist that was sent out. Judging by the way things have been laid out so far, Spigen’s claims are either really without merit and Essential is willing to prove it, or Essential is simply prepared to handle the situation regardless of any other details. For those that have missed everything about Essential in the last few days, it recently officially unveiled the Essential Phone along with two other products, the 360 camera attachment and the Essential Home, its answer to Google Home and Amazon’s Echo smart speakers.