February 20th, 2024
Los Angeles, California
Dear Max & Stacy,
when I started learning about Bitcoin in 2018 I would constantly listen to your podcasts and YouTube clips to guide me through the proverbial rabbit hole. Your contribution to Bitcoin has been immense and most of us probably wouldn’t be here without the two of you.
As you may know, at the end of 2022, I launched the Orange Pill App to give Bitcoiners all over the world, a platform to connect and find each other in person, creating local communities like the ones in El Salvador, away from the reach of big tech and big govt.
Little did I know that only a few months later I would find myself and my small startup embattled in a legal dispute against a multibillion-dollar company (Orange) because of our name and their claim that we were infringing on their trademark.
Only because of the support of the Bitcoin community and my unwillingness to give up, I was eventually able to win that battle and get the app reinstated in the Google Play Store. Throughout all of these events, I was hoping that our pending trademark would be approved so that I wouldn’t have to worry about these kinds of near-death experiences ever again.
Unfortunately on Jan 10, 2024, the US Govt. rejected our application citing your trademark for the podcast “Orange Pill” as the reason for the denial.
Fate loves irony, after all.
To be clear: Orange Pill App does not have a podcast nor is a podcast platform, in fact, we don’t even have a feed.
Knowing your dedication to Bitcoin and after our brief encounter in Austin I was sure this could be resolved in a quick and friendly manner, but you have shut down all communication between us, which is why I’m writing this open letter.
While we fully intend to appeal the decision, I understand that without a letter from you stating that we do not infringe upon your trademark, our chances of success are slim.
Receiving this trademark would mean the world to us as we could just keep focusing on building Orange Pill App, without the fear of being shut down at any moment, and continue to do our best to serve the Bitcoin community, just like you have done for all these years.
We’ve been trying to reach out to you and your lawyers for several weeks, without success. I believe that an open conversation would go a long way here for everybody involved and ultimately for Bitcoin itself.
Yours sincerely,
Matteo Pellegrini
Founder & CEO, Orange Pill App Inc.
matteo@theorangepillapp.com