Facebook accused of stealing Calibra logo from online bank Current

Current's CEO reportedly said Facebook "ripped off" the logo for its new subsidiary.

Corinne Reichert Senior Writer

Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently oversees the CNET breaking news desk for the West Coast. Corinne covers everything from phones, social media and security to movies, politics, 5G and pop culture. In her spare time, she watches soccer games, F1 races and Disney movies.

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Corinne Reichert

June 20, 2019 3:59 p.m. PT

2 min read

The Current and Calibra logos look similar.

Current/Calibra

Current, an online banking company, has accused Facebook of borrowing its logo for the social network's newly unveiled cryptocurrency play. The Calibra logo bears a resemblance to Current's logo, the company tweeted Thursday, as reported earlier by CNBC.

Facebook earlier this week unveiled a global digital coin called Libra, to be managed by a governing body called the Libra Association. Calibra is the name of the subsidiary that will run the wallet.

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Stuart Sopp, Current CEO, told CNBC that the same San Francisco design firm, Character, was used to create both logos. He reportedly added that he worked with Character for months on Current's logo.

"This is a funny way to try and create trust in a new global financial system -- by ripping off another fintech firm," Sopp told CNBC. "We put six months of hard work into this with that design firm, which they basically reused for Facebook without changing much ... Facebook is a big company that should have done their due diligence on this."

Both logos feature a wave inside a circle, as shown in Current's tweet Thursday.

this is what happens when you only have 1 crayon left pic.twitter.com/2JY5JfesQD
— Current (@current) June 19, 2019

According to CNBC, Current has engaged law firm Goodwin Procter to decide whether it has a trademark or patent infringement case against Facebook.

Facebook is working alongside 27 launch partners for Libra, including PayPal, Visa, Uber, Coinbase, Lyft , Mastercard, Vodafone, eBay and Spotify , but aims to have 100 members in the Libra Association by 2020.

Libra can be used to purchase products, send money internationally and make donations, and is set to launch in the second half of 2020.

Facebook unveils Libra cryptocurrency

"Facebook created Calibra, a regulated subsidiary, to ensure separation between social and financial data and to build and operate services on its behalf on top of the Libra network," according to a document.

Facebook, Current and Character didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.