This week the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community had found that two trademark filings for the phrase 'Bitcoin Cash' were registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) over the past year. One trademark filing was registered with the USPTO on May 18, 2018, but the individual who registered it may be an accused con-artist from Hawaii who was charged with bilking millions of dollars from residents within the Honolulu region in 2001.

A Bitcoin Cash Trademark Filed Last Month by an Interesting Individual Who Claims to Be Satoshi Nakamoto

Following our recent report that detailed how a company from the UK managed to successfully trademark the name 'Bitcoin', another odd trademark filing was found tied to the name 'Bitcoin Cash' according to public documents. There are two filings with the USPTO that are looking to claim the name Bitcoin Cash for products and goods associated with computer software licensing and online real-time currency trading. The most recent filing, registered on May 18, 2018, applies to computer software licensing and was registered by an individual named Ronald Keala Kua Maria from Hawaii. The USPTO filing also says after Kua Maria's name 'AKA Satoshi Nakamoto' which indicates Kua Maria is claiming to be the inventor of cryptocurrency.

Hawaiian Cargo Container Grifting Accusations and the Ownership of Many Bitcoin-Related Domains

The name Ronald Keala Kua Maria leads people to a rabbit hole of interesting stories regarding this individual and his mother. According to reports in 2001, Kua Maria and his mother were accused of second-degree theft involving phony cargo containers and the two allegedly grifted millions of dollars by scamming Hawaiian residents. The cargo container scam started in 1979, Honolulu's regional press explains, where Maria began asking acquaintances for funds to invest in fake cargo containers.