The owner of the Original Penguin apparel brand filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Pudgy Penguins NFT brand for alleged trademark infringement.

‘Unauthorised’ Penguin Usage?

Perry Ellis International argued that Pudgy Penguins continued to produce retail goods even after receiving a cease-and-desist order in October 2023, The Block reported, citing a federal court filing. PEI asserted that this has “diluted” the value of its Penguin brand, which was established in 1955.

The complaint said that Pudgy Penguins’ “unauthorized” use of the Penguin word and design marks could “mislead” consumers into believing that they are connected to PEI.

Meanwhile, Pudgy Penguins took a jab at PEI using a popular “The Office” meme. The NFT brand didn’t return a request for an official comment.

What’s Happening With PENGU?

This lawsuit comes at a time when Pudgy Penguins has been making significant strides in the consumer finance sector.

Last month, the popular NFT collection unveiled a cryptocurrency debit card. The Pengu Card, powered by Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), claims to enable users to spend stablecoins or cryptocurrencies directly at over 150 million merchants, with up to 12% rewards and 7% yield on balances.

Pudgy Penguins has also ventured into the retail industry, selling products such as plush toys and apparel.

Price Action: At the time of writing, PENGU, the official token of Pudgy Penguins, was trading at $0.007156, up 0.16% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro. 

The Solana (CRYPTO: SOL)-based token launched in December 2024 with high volatility and quickly surged to an all-time high of $0.05738. Since then, it has shed 87% of its value.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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