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Public relations firm Global Situation Room sent a cease-and-desist letter to Polymarket on Thursday over Prediction Market’s planned bar pop-up in Washington.
According to a letter obtained by CNBC, Polymarket named the bar “The Situation Room,” which the consulting firm’s lawyers argued was infringing on its trademark. The company said Polymarket’s use of the name gave the false impression that Global Situation Room was “in some way related to or associated with Polymarket’s services.”
“In fact, there is a clear overlap between the uses of GLOBAL SITUATION ROOM and THE SITUATION ROOM, as both marks include ‘SITUATION ROOM’ and enable consumers to monitor and take action on global events,” the letter written by Godfrey & Kahn attorney Shane Delsman said. “In fact, the marks are very similar and the Global Situation Room has already seen some real disruption in the form of press requests for comment on the opening of the new THE SITUATION ROOM bar.”
The company required Polymarket to immediately stop using the term “The Situation Room” in connection with the bar’s pop-up, remove the term from promotional materials, and agree that Polymarket would never use the name again.
“We literally have a situation room in our office, and events take place there, so this is clearly a violation of our trademark,” Brett Bruen, CEO of Global Situation Room, said in an interview with CNBC. “We want to make it clear to them that this is our trademark territory. We will defend it vigorously and they should consider their use of the term, whether it’s ‘situation room’ or something else.”
Polymarket did not immediately respond to questions from CNBC regarding the cease-and-desist letter.
The Global Situation Room has until the end of Thursday to warn Polymarket that the company will take corrective action or figuratively take things outside.
“If the Global Situation Room does not receive a satisfactory and timely response, we are prepared to take all necessary steps to protect our valuable intellectual property rights without further notice to Polymarket,” the letter said.
The bar, which was announced in X earlier this week and is scheduled to open at an undisclosed location on Friday, has sparked curiosity in Washington because of its secrecy. Prediction Markets touted it as “the world’s first dedicated bar for situation monitoring.”
In addition to standard bar fares, the company said it will be introducing a “live X feed, flight radar, Bloomberg terminal and polymarket screen.”
