Elon Musk fights with Mexican businessman over StarLink trademark registration

SpaceX would have stripped the Mexican of his brand so Aguirre Campos, of Zacatecan origin, filed two appeals with which he hopes his rights will be restored.

“We filed two appeals, we are calm and confident that this will protect us and restore our rights. We are going to die on the line, ”the Mexican told Milenio.

StarGroup is a Mexican company dedicated to the telecommunications sector, owner of the brands StarGo, StarLine, StarTv, StarKa, StarGroup and StarLink, since 2015.

In 2018, Musk’s company sued the Mexican Institute of Intellectual Property (IMPI) of Mexico for the expiration and invalidity of the Mexican brand.

The complaint was denied but the Forbes millionaire insisted before the Specialized Chamber on Intellectual Property of the Federal Court of Administrative Justice (TFJA), who finally accepted it, to which Aguirre described as an “injustice”.

Elon Musk’s lawyers reportedly sought Aguirre Campos to buy his brand, but the businessman said he was not interested in selling it.

“We don’t have the StarLink trademark registered to see who wants to have it or so we can sell it later. No, how are we going to sell it? Our clients know us with it, ”said the one from Zacatecas.

Aguirre explains that one of the attempts to strip it of its brand was to ensure that the StarLink registration was done in a personal capacity, when the domain belongs to SpaceX: “First you go and register the brand, then you do the company. They accuse me that I registered the trademark in my name and is used by the company, this has no basis. This is how half of the Mexican companies would be exposed to this ”.

“Our rights were violated, it was an injustice what the Administrative Justice Court did. The law does not apply due to the size of the companies, how powerful their owners can be, or the amount of money they have; the law is applied to give the reason to those who have it, that is why the law will protect us, ”Aguirre stressed.

After learning about the case, several Mexican companies expressed solidarity with Aguirre. The general directors of UBIX, Sebastián Monterrubio, and of Elara, Marco Illescas, asked the authorities to weigh the efforts of the Mexican against the voracious interests of international businessmen.

The owner of StarLink in Mexico refuses to change the name and does not want to transfer it to the American’s company. While Elon Musk’s Starlink requires the brand not only to operate in Mexico Starting in October, it has its sights on global expansion.