Luno sending false trademark takedown notices

[theymos]

Luno has been spamming us and our service providers with false takedown notices targeting posts which are obviously not actually trademark-infringing, apparently trying to eliminate negative pages about them from the Internet. This strikes me as a major red flag, so I'd approach Luno with caution.

Dear Registrant,
 
Luno Pte. Ltd. (Luno) is the owner of numerous registered trademarks, including the Luno trademark(s).  As you are no doubt aware, these trademarks are used to identify, advertise and promote Luno’s products and activities.

It has come to our attention that you are using Luno copyrighted image(s), logo(s) or other visible or concealed text within your website located at bitcointalk.org without having obtained Luno’s prior written authorization.  By doing so, you intentionally seek to attract Internet users to your website.  This unauthorized use of Luno’s intellectual property falsely suggests Luno’s affiliation, connection or association with you and Luno’s sponsorship or endorsement of your website.  This practice infringes on Luno’s exclusive intellectual property rights.

We demand that you immediately remove all Luno copyrighted images, logos or other visible or concealed text within your website located at the following URL(s):

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5503694.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4522294.0

Please respond within 5 business days indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter.

Sincerely,

Luno Pte. Ltd. Brand Protection Team

[PX-Z]

Now they will emailing you again including this post lmao.

AFAIK about internet laws, post in forums, reviews discussion are generally protected as free speech or fair comment. About images, i havent seen on those thread. What are they crying for about those reviews/question, are they this sensitive?

[retaur]

Very weird they used those two examples. Like they were the best they had: both without images and one saying they'd contacted support.

Maybe their team are trying to gauge how well things like this go received and aren't trying to remove only negative posts about them (but that might be less likely). They look a longstanding and well established wallet (if I got the right one) so the behaviour seems very strange. Is there a way to be sure it's definitely them.

[theymos]

Now they will emailing you again including this post lmao.

I wouldn't be surprised.

AFAIK about internet laws, post in forums, reviews discussion are generally protected as free speech or fair comment.

Right. The takedown notices are legally unjustifiable, 100%.

We get this kind of thing quite a bit, and normally I don't post about it, but in this case I was prompted to do so because it's a high-trust service which you'd hope would be trying to address criticism/concern/confusion rather than trying to silence it.

Is there a way to be sure it's definitely them.

Not with total certainty, but I think that it's probably real. The emails come from an @lunobrandprotection.com email address, which is a domain that was registered in 2020 and is typical for these sorts of takedown notices. In other emails, they say, "Under penalty of perjury, we certify that [...] we have the authority to act on behalf of the owner of the trademark(s) and/or copyright(s) involved."

[rat03gopoh]

Those posts (the ones they pointed to, including mine this time ) are user opinions and independent analysis. They also don't claim any affiliation, sponsorship, or official endorsement. Isn't this a form of intimidation when they demand removal based on trademark claims? And this is evidence of aggressive censorship behavior in my opinion 

[ABCbits]

First thread only asked question that already answered on Luno website, while second thread is 7 years old. I wonder if someone on that department need to hit some quota and decided to do this. Anyway, here are few archive to those webpages.

https://archive.ph/xLnvi
https://web.archive.org/web/20251031065737/https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5503694.0
https://archive.ph/uap78
https://web.archive.org/web/20251031070037/https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4522294.0

By the way, i just discovered Luno have 2.2 star on https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.luno.com. The review definitely more "negative" than those 2 threads.

[Jawhead999]

Huh I wonder if they've ask your permission and other users (satoshi, GameKyuubi, Gavin Andersen etc) posts in this forum which they mention in their article https://discover.luno.com/?s=bitcointalk

They thought the forum take advantage over their exchange, little did they know most users not even suggest to use their exchange.

By the way, i just discovered Luno have 2.2 star on https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.luno.com. The review definitely more "negative" than those 2 threads.

Which mean, people are taking more serious with the post and review in this forum over trustpilot. Those threads are quite old, probably someone else bring it to judge Luno.

[Mitchell]

Those two topics aren't even interesting... All Luno is doing is putting a bigger spotlight on themselves and causing a Streisand effect.

> The Streisand effect describes a situation where an attempt to hide, remove, or censor information results in the unintended consequence of the effort instead increasing public awareness of the information.

[Zwei]

Those two topics aren't even interesting... All Luno is doing is putting a bigger spotlight on themselves and causing a Streisand effect.

you beat me to posting this, hehehe.

i didn't even know Luno existed before this thread, and those two posts they are trying to remove were long dead and irrelevant.
now we added another shitty exchange to the avoid list.

thank you Luno brand protection team for being so stupid.

[coupable]

thank you Luno brand protection team for being so stupid.

Would they also contact Tryninja and LoyceV to ask them remove those thread from their post archive contents?
I checked the two threads then found no images or logos. Are they really that stupid trying to fight free speech and analysis posting in public websites? They better go report trustpilot website for showing the bad rate they have.

[joniboini]

That's surprising. I remember I visited their website in the past and thought it was an OK service. Why would they bother doing stuff like this? I'm sure a smart business manager knows the cons outweigh the pros (if any). They have a lot of competition now, and doing stuff like this for a forum post when other exchanges are dealing with more serious accusations about their practices is naive imo.

[NotATether]

Posts written on a forum qualify as user-generated content, and the service provider of the forum will not be held liable for such posts, within the statute of limitations.

In particular, the posts cited in the takedown notice neither use Luno trademarks, nor are their authors attempting to use Luno trademarks to start a financial venture, so quite frankly, their legal threats would not hold up in court. Maybe that's why they haven't sent me any reports regarding Talksearch data.

(I am not a lawyer. I've just wanted too much Suits.)

[julerz12]

Maybe it's a ploy to help them get noticed? Certainly worked for me 'cause this was the first time I've heard of them, and now I just visited their website. Clever

[Zwei]

Maybe it's a ploy to help them get noticed?

i don't think this is one of the "any publicity is good publicity" cases.

Certainly worked for me 'cause this was the first time I've heard of them, and now I just visited their website. Clever

in my view, it's more like: this is the first time i have heard of them, and now i'm never gonna use them.

just imagine, if their brand protection team is this stupid, how bad the rest of the teams are?
it would be a nightmare to deal with them if your funds gets locked or you run into any other issue if they are also this incompetent.

[dkbit98]

I didn't even know what Luno is, so I had to look them up to find more information, and I would agree this is a red flag.
It's so stupid from them trying to take dwon whole bitcointalk forum just because some member wrote something they don't like  
This remind on on CSW Faketoshi who tried to sue everyone who said he was not the real Satoshi.

[Z-tight]

Maybe it's a ploy to help them get noticed? Certainly worked for me 'cause this was the first time I've heard of them, and now I just visited their website. Clever

Rather a ploy to show everyone how stupid they are. What a way for people to find out about your service. I was expecting to see some form of unauthorized use of their trademark in any of those posts, but just reading it shows how clueless their brand protection team is. Any service that cannot take criticism well is probably one to steer clear of.

[Zoomic]

I didn't even know what Luno is, so I had to look them up to find more information, and I would agree this is a red flag.
It's so stupid from them trying to take dwon whole bitcointalk forum just because some member wrote something they don't like  

I also do not know much about them, but I have heard about Luno in my early days in the industry. If not for the first thread referenced by theymos, I have forgotten about them. Meanwhile, what actually do they want?
They just want to be mentioned in any website;
Or they want to be mentioned for good reasons only;
This is just so funny. I was just looking for the infringement in the posts.

This remind on on CSW Faketoshi who tried to sue everyone who said he was not the real Satoshi.

Now, Luno is going to take down my account for mentioning them. Theymos please help me, only if your account is safe

[joniboini]

Or they want to be mentioned for good reasons only;
This is just so funny. I was just looking for the infringement in the posts.

I think someone mentioned above that it's probably a case of an employee doing stupid things because they have a target or something similar. I kinda agree on that. Hard to understand why someone at the top of the management would approve doing something like this when people can easily see that their notice or the quoted posts do little to no harm to them. Maybe they'll just fire them and let this issue go down naturally.

[yhiaali3]

This is truly foolish. Everyone knows that BitcoinTalk is an open forum where members freely express their opinions, and the BitcoinTalk administration is not responsible for what members post, as it reflects their personal opinions or experiences.

If some members had a negative experience with the Luno brand, they should have addressed the issue or clarified their position instead of sending removal notices. They will not succeed in trying to delete all the negative pages related to it from the internet.

This is a clear example of foolish crisis management; instead of solving the problem, they've complicated it further. 

[UserU]

I didn't even know what Luno is, so I had to look them up to find more information, and I would agree this is a red flag.

Luno is a legit exchange like Binance albeit less-known; I've used them since 2017 but their fees are higher than many competitors and they are more stringent when it comes to KYC.