Court rules in favor of Reddit, Inc. and dismisses the /r/wallstreetbets lawsuit brought by Jaime Rogozinski in an attempt to retain ownership over a community name.

Let’s explore this decision!

Brief history of the case

Rogozinski started the /r/wallstreetbets subreddit on the platform back in January 2012, including the logo and subreddit design.

By 2020, there were over 1 million members of the community. 🤯

In March 2020, Rogozinski filed to register a trademark for WALLSTREETBETS.

Reddit put his account on a 7-day suspension for violating the TOS – “attempting to monetize a community” and wasn’t allowed to moderate communities on the platform anymore.

Rogozinski filed a lawsuit in February 2023, but it was dismissed and he was allowed to file again. In August 2023, he filed the amended complaint, which is what the court has just ruled to dismiss.

Now: this court decision!

The court has dismissed all seven causes of action:

1. Request for declaratory Judgment (Trademark)

Court notes that there was no use of WALLSTREETBETS mark prior to 2012 when the subreddit was created.

Court also doesn’t buy the argument that Rogozinski created additional communities on other platforms, like Twitter, Discord, or IRC, or a standalone website/forum.

Those activities took place AFTER the creation of the subreddit.

2. Infringement of WALLSTREETBETS trademark

Court doesn’t buy the trademark infringement claim that Rogozinski argues either.

Court notes the claim based on a lack of any evidence that he was first to use the mark.

3. Infringement of WSB trademark

The next claim dismissed is the attempt to claim Reddit infringed the WSB trademark.

However, court said even with the ownership of the WSB mark (for “crypto-currency related goods and services), Rogozinski present no evidence of infringement.

Claims 4-7 are all state law claims and are easily dismissed (again) because Reddit has a valid #Section230 defense.

These claims were for right of publicity, breach of contract, duty of good faith and fair dealing, and CA’s unfair competition law.

There’s an 8th count dismissed that dealt with standing in connection with the CA’s unfair competition law claim made by Rogozinski.

He tried to argue that he never would have spent 8 years building up the community if he had known it “could be seized by Reddit at any time.”

But, the court doesn’t care 😳 they drop this little burn:

🔥 “An assertion one spent time one otherwise would not have spent does not suffice to plead the requisite element.” 🔥

At the end of this, Reddit’s motion to dismiss is granted and there’s no option for Rogozinski to file another complaint.

Only next step would be to appeal this decision, if he wants to pursue it further.

Creator Takeaways

Big takeaway for creators: When creating your communities, be mindful of the platform terms.

You may not own or retain full (or any) right to control the name of the community, or other IP that is involved. Also, you may lose control over how the brand is managed.

So, what can creators do??

Consider establishing (and registering to protect) a brand OUTSIDE of a community-based platform like Reddit + BEFORE starting up the community site.

Think about if protecting vanity URLs or other platform-specific branding features will be important.

The case is: Rogozinski v. Reddit, Inc., 3:23-cv-00686, (N.D. Cal. Jan 12, 2024).