Gojek + Tokopedia GoTo court over trademark

• PT Terbit Financial Technology has filed a lawsuit against Gojek and Tokopedia for the usage of the name GoTo.
• The company claims that it has the right to the brand GoTo, between March 10 2020 and March 10 2030.
• GoTo is apparently aware of this issue and will follow through the ongoing legal process until it is concluded.

Back in May this year, Indonesian super app Gojek and marketplace Tokopedia merged to form GoTo Group. Although the merger were finalised mid this year, it wasn’t until last month that the brand GoTo was registered with Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP) of Ministry of Law and Human Rights (MoLHR).

Unfortunately, a little known company in Indonesia, PT Terbit Financial Technology, came forward to make it known that it owns the right to the brand name GoTo since May this year. For that, Gojek and Tokopedia were slapped with a lawsuit from Terbit Financial Technology, demanding them to pay two trillion rupiah (approximately US$140 million) as compensation.

According to a local media report recently, Gojek and Tokopedia registered GoTo with MoLHR on October 27, 2021 with registration number IDM000903101. The start date of the coverage is March 5, 2021 and the end date of the cover is March 5, 2031. Meanwhile, Terbit Financial Technology registered GoTo as the name of its computer software application, on May 25, 2021. “The start date of protection for this mark is 10 March 2020 and the end of protection is 10 March 2030,” the report added.

Apparently, a representative from the GoTo Group said that the company is aware of this issue and will respect the ongoing legal process until its conclusion. “We have successfully registered the GoTo name with the relevant authority and always operate in line with local regulations,” he said.

In the lawsuit, Terbit Financial, the plaintiff, has requested the Central Jakarta Commercial Court to grant a number of its claims. The claims include, declare the plaintiff as the sole owner and legal right holder of the registered mark “GOTO” and all its variations. Secondly, stating that the “GOTO”, “goto”, and “goto financial” brands have similarities with the plaintiff’s “GOTO” brand.

Terbit Financial also requested the court to instruct Gojek and Tokopedia to stop the use of the “GOTO ” mark or any variations thereof.  “Punishing the Defendants to stop using the GOTO mark or all its variations. Punishing the Defendants jointly and severally paying forced money of Rp. 1,000,000,000 (one billion rupiah) to the Plaintiff for every day of delay in carrying out the decision on this case, ” the plaintiff said.

While such a lawsuit isn’t an isolated one, Facebook too were recently taken to court by a Chicago-based tech firm called Meta Company. In a public letter, Meta Company Founder Nate Skulic said “On Oct 28, 2021, Facebook decided to commit trademark infringement and call themselves Meta. They couldn’t buy us, so they tried to bury us by force of media. We shouldn’t be surprised by these actions – from a company that continually says one thing and does another.” 

 

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