Samuel Boivin Nurfoto | getty images
public relations firm global status room Sent a cease-and-desist letter to Polymarket over prediction market plan on Thursday bar Pop-up in Washington.
According to the letter obtained by CNBC, Polymarket named the bar “The Situation Room”, which the consulting firm’s lawyers said infringes its trademark. The firm said Polymarket’s use of the name gives the false impression that the Global Situation Room is “in any way associated or linked to Polymarket’s services.”
“Indeed, there are clear overlaps in the uses of Global Situation Room and The Situation Room, such that both marks include ‘Situation Room’ and allow consumers to monitor and take action on global affairs,” the letter, written by Shane Delsman, an attorney at Godfrey & Kahn, reads. “In fact, the marks are so similar, The Global Situation Room has already seen real confusion in the form of press requests to comment on the opening of the new The Situation Room bar.”
The firm demanded that Polymarket immediately cease all use of “The Situation Room” with its bar pop-ups, remove any instances of it from promotional materials and agree that Polymarket would never use the nickname again.
“We have a literal situation room in our office where we do the program, so this is clearly an infringement of our trademark,” Global Situation Room CEO Brett Bruen said in an interview with CNBC. “We want to make it clear to them that this is our trademark area. We plan to defend it vigorously, and they should consider their use of the words whether it’s ‘The Situation Room’ or something else.”
Polymarket did not immediately respond to CNBC’s inquiry on the cease-and-desist letter.
The Global Situation Room gave Polymarket until the end of the day on Thursday to say whether it would take corrective action, or the firm warned it would – symbolically – take things out.
“If the Global Situation Room does not receive a satisfactory and timely response, it is prepared to take all necessary steps to protect its valuable intellectual property rights, without giving any notice to Polymarket,” the letter said.
The bar, which was announced at X earlier this week, is scheduled to open on Friday at an undisclosed location, which has raised curiosity in Washington due to the secrecy. Prediction Market described it as “the world’s first bar dedicated to monitoring the situation”.
In addition to standard bar fare, the company said it will feature “live X feeds, flight radar, Bloomberg terminals and PolyMarket screens.”