Alibaba faces a challenge from Dubai's Alibabacoin over 'magic' name

The Dubai-based cryptocurrency firm Alibabacoin Foundation on Tuesday said Alibaba Group Holding Ltd cannot monopolize the "magical" Alibaba name, and asked a U.S. judge to dismiss the Chinese e-commerce retailer's trademark lawsuit.

In a filing with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Alibabacoin rejected the claim that consumers would be confused into thinking Alibaba supported its alleged effort to raise money in the cryptocurrency market.

Alibabacoin, which is also known as ABBC Foundation, said it has not been trying to piggyback off the Alibaba name, and that China's ban on initial coin offerings in September eliminated a key source of potential confusion.

"The legend of Alibaba conjures up thoughts of magic, gold coins, and 'Open Sesame,'" Alibabacoin said. "The ABBC entities are well within their rights to use a word connoting magic and golden coins in an area (Alibaba) has not used or, at the very least, has abandoned."