Preface

This article is long, and Kaddex will provide a summary soon. While Kaddex does not ever believe in delivering a ‘wall of text,’ providing detailed analyses is essential for those interested.

General Disclaimer

The information provided on this website does not, and is not meant to, constitute legal advice; all information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only.  Information on this website may not include the most up-to-date legal or other information.  This website contains links to other third-party websites, which are only for the convenience of the reader, user, or browser; Kaddex does not recommend or endorse the contents of the third-party sites.

Readers of this website should contact their attorney for advice concerning any particular legal matter.  No reader, user, or browser of this site should act or refrain from acting based on information on this site without first seeking legal advice from counsel in the relevant jurisdiction.  Only your attorney can provide assurances that the information contained herein and your interpretation are applicable or appropriate to your situation.  Use of, and access to, this website or any of the links or resources contained within site do not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader, user, or browser and website authors, contributors, contributing law firms, or committee members and their respective employers.

All liability for actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this site is explicitly disclaimed.  The content on this posting is provided “as is;” no representations are made that the content is error-free.

Supporting Documentation

This page refers to numerous documents which are also available for download.

Introduction

Kaddex feels compelled to provide some history and information surrounding its organisation. Kaddex especially feels this necessary given Fakedex’s, the intellectual property troll, bombastic rhetoric, outlandish claims, and, quite frankly, flat-out thievery. This history only serves as a summary, and Kaddex will add more information in due course.

In summary, Fakedex (kaddex.com) maliciously used Kaddex’s brand name and trademark to:

1. likely illegally issue securities; and,
2. almost certainly steal from their very own community for the money and influence in the DAO; and,
3. deploy a substandard product that fails to meet the basic functional requirements of a decentralised exchange.

These activities caused irreparable harm to Kaddex’s brand and community trust: Damage Kaddex is still repairing to this day. Kaddex will make Kadena great again.

Fakedex uses multiple social media accounts to impersonate our brand and likeness, causing irreparable harm. The accounts listed below are fake and not authorised by Kaddex:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KaddeXofficial (FAKE)
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kaddex/ (FAKE)
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaddexofficial/ (FAKE)
• Telegram: https://t.me/KaddeXofficial (FAKE)
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kaddex3032 (FAKE)

Response to Article

After reading this very article, several members of the Fakedex community had, understandably, concerns. Those users took their concerns to Fakedex. When they asked Fakedex about Kaddex’s allegations, Fakedex immediately banned and removed their account from their Discord without warning. Fakedex removed all their messages to hide the truth from their community.

All four of these individuals tell Kaddex they hold Fakedex Tokens ($fKDX) and are now unable to engage in the decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) actively. The right of participants in a DAO to be heard is a core tenant that this coverup violates.

Fakedex routinely suppresses anyone who raises concerns about their operations, strategy, or behaviour. Not only does removing these voices from Discord have a chilling effect, but it also removes their right to vote in the DAO or solicit change. Kaddex prides itself on being an open forum and hears all opinions regardless of Kaddex’s own opinion.

Early Background

Michael Williams has been involved in the blockchain and cryptocurrency community since its early inception. He began mining Bitcoin from his MacBook computer in late 2009.

Mr Williams saw the potential for the future of blockchain. He maintained his involvement in the community and began to perform ad-hoc blockchain and cryptocurrency consulting starting in 2018. In 2019, he started using the name ‘Kaddex’ as his brand for blockchain and cryptocurrency consulting.

Involvement with Kadena

He became heavily involved in the Kadena ecosystem shortly after the blockchain’s launch. To point out, Mr Williams became one of the first significant miners in Kadena: holding over fifty per cent (50%) of the network’s hash power for some time. Mr Williams helped address numerous security deficiencies and challenges within the Kadena network and provided a significant amount of infrastructure to the blockchain, including mining pools, protocols, and node hosting. Mr Williams was the first outside Kadena to host a chainweb-data and chainweb-explorer instance, and he went on to host multiple highly redundant instances.

Building a DEX on Kadena

As the Kadena blockchain evolved and decentralised exchanges (DEXs) became more common, Mr Williams saw the potential significant competitive advantage of having a DEX on the Kadena blockchain. He figured the name he used for his blockchain and cryptocurrency consulting business, ‘Kaddex,’ sounded like a natural fit as ‘KAD’ was close to ‘Kadena’ or ‘KDA’ and ‘DEX’ aligned with a decentralised exchange.

Around January 2021, Mr Williams discussed his plans to launch a Dex extensively and publicly in his Telegram channel and privately over Telegram messages with Kadena employee Francesco Melpignano. He asked Francesco if Kadena would like to coordinate with him as he launched the Dex as he saw a win-win opportunity that would drive additional users to the Kadena blockchain and showcase the scalability and functionality of Kadena. Mr Williams stressed that if done right, the DEX would highlight the significant competitive advantages available on the Kadena blockchain.

Several months later, around April 2021, Kadena’s very own Francesco Melpignano announced:

An independent team approached us saying they would like to launch a DEX on Kadena by forking our existing code and call it KADDEX. Since running a DEX for Kadena would only burden our resources, we are letting this new team behind KADDEX launch it and build a better UI/UX experience for us all. This kills two birds with one stone for us because it achieves our goal of attracting third parties to the Kadena ecosystem and frees up our tech talent to keep on building new stuff, as maintaining a frontend is not a good use of our highly skilled engineers’ time.’

To reduce confusion, I will refer to this group started by an ‘independent team’ as ‘Fakedex.’

Who is Fakedex & Williams’ Expulsion

A proposed logo by Fakedex after rebranding was provided to us by an anonymous source.

Given that the Fakedex remained entirely anonymous, the Kadena community began investigating the individuals that started and comprised this organisation. Using the handle’ Jason Rivera’, an author discovered and reported that Fakedex is likely Kadena. Moreover, he provides support and evidence that not only is Fakedex likely Kadena, but Francesco Melpignano, the very individual Mr Williams approached with the idea, founded, and is running Fakedex. Fakedex abused the DMCA process to have his article removed; we have embedded it at the end of this section.

Mr Williams reached out to the Fakedex team numerous times. He explained that their entire company, from the name, logos, typefaces, and business plan was his idea. They called Mr Williams a troll and expelled him from the Kaddex and, eventually, the Kadena community.

Mr Williams was in a precarious situation: he was, and still is, heavily involved in the Kadena ecosystem, but at the same time, could not stand idly by while Fakedex stole his intellectual property. He truly hoped the Kadena and Fakedex teams would reconcile with him and reach an agreement that made all parties happy. But once Kadena and Fakedex expelled Mr Williams, he could not negotiate.

Article on Fakedex’s Alleged Kadena Link

In the embedded article below, authored by Jason Rivera, Kaddex refers to Fakedex and not our organisation.

Kaddex’s Legal Entities & Intellectual Property Defence

At that point, he took significant and measurable actions to defend his intellectual property from theft by Fakedex. On 12 October 2021, he created his first legal entity, Kaddex LLC. Kaddex LLC is a limited liability corporation duly incorporated under Delaware, United States laws. After forming this LLC, Williams established four additional legal entities to run the Kaddex business and hold its intellectual property.

In total, Kaddex is comprised of five legal entities:

1. KADDEX LLC (‘Kaddex USA’) is a corporation duly organised and existing under the laws of Delaware. It has a registered office at Suite 201, 651 N Broad St, Middletown, DE 19709, United States of America.
2. KADDEX PTY LTD (‘Kaddex AU’) is an Australian private company organised and existing under the laws of New South Wales, Australia. It has a registered office at Suite 1524, 50-58 MacLeay St Elizabeth Bay NSW 2011 Australia.
3. Kaddex OÜ (‘Kaddex EE’) is a private limited company organised and existing under the laws of Estonia, the European Union. It has a registered office at Harju maakond, Tallinn, Lasnamäe linnaosa, Sepapaja tn 6, 15551, Estonia, European Union.
4. KADDEX LTD (‘Kaddex UK’) is a private limited company organised and existing under the laws of England, United Kingdom. It has a registered office at Lytchett House 13 Freeland Park, Wareham Road, Poole, Dorset, Bh26 6FA, England, United Kingdom.
5. KADDEXDAO ASSOCIATION (‘KaddexDAO’) is an association organised and existing under the laws of Switzerland and has a registered office at Blegistrasse 7, 6340 Baar, Switzerland.

In all, Kaddex has expended over USD 500,000 defending its intellectual property. These fees include costs related to attorneys, government filings, and enforcement actions.

Kaddex’s Trademarks

On 12 October 2021, Williams transferred the rights of his name, ‘Kaddex,’ to Kaddex LLC, and Kaddex LLC filed for trademark registration in several jurisdictions.

On 13 October 2021, Kaddex LLC filed in the United States; the next day, 14 October 2021, it filed in Australia, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. Kaddex LLC subsequently transferred the Australian, European Union, and United Kingdom marks to respective legal entities domiciled in their local jurisdiction. Kaddex Pty Ltd received the Australian trademark, Kaddex Ltd received the United Kingdom trademark, and Kaddex OU received the European Union trademark.

Kaddex OU went on to register its trademark with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and requested protection in the following jurisdictions:

Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Brunei Darussalam, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Brazil, Bhutan, Botswana, Benelux Office for Intellectual Property, Belarus, Canada, Switzerland, China, Colombia, Cuba, Curaçao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Algeria, Estonia, Egypt, Spain, Finland, France, Georgia, Guernsey, Ghana, Gambia, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iceland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Liechtenstein, Liberia, Lesotho, Lithuania, Latvia, Morocco, Monaco, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Madagascar, North Macedonia, Mongolia, Malawi, Mexico, Malaysia, Mozambique, Namibia, Norway, New Zealand, African Intellectual Property Organization, Oman, Philippines, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Sudan, Sweden, Singapore, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sierra Leone, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Sint Maarten (Dutch part), Syrian Arab Republic, Eswatini, Thailand, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Türkiye, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, United States of America, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Samoa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

The European Union mark covers the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

The African Intellectual Property Organization covers the following countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.

Kaddex’s legal entities have registered or pending trademark applications in 130 countries.

World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
Kaddex has two registered trademark applications through the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

United States
Kaddex has four pending trademark applications in the United States, three of which have absolute priority over Fakedex.

Kaddex’s Copyrights

As a matter of law, creators are not required to register a copyright to protect their work. However, in some jurisdictions, including the United States, registering a copyright puts the copyright’s facts on the public record and provides a registration certificate. Registered works may qualify for statutory damages and attorney’s fees in successful litigation.

Kaddex holds several copyrights, including US Copyright Office Registration VAu001490415. 

Kaddex’s Patents

Kaddex filed several patents in a country member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Currently, Kaddex will not publish the details of these patents to prevent possible trolling by Fakedex or associated entities.

Fakedex’s Rush to Market

Knowing Kaddex held the legal rights to the intellectual property they stole, Fakedex knew they needed to rush a product to market and try to outspend Kaddex in a legal battle to steal their intellectual property. Their first step was to conduct a likely illegal capital raise (private sale) and release a defective product to the market before Kaddex could tangibly enforce its intellectual property rights. Fakedex’s goal was to beat Kaddex to the market and appear as if they owned the intellectual property and had the idea first, then outspend Kaddex in enforcing the rights to the mark. Sadly, all too often, access to cash is a limiting factor in any intellectual property litigation. Fakedex knew, with over $81 million in cash, they would be able to outspend Kaddex to force Kaddex to relinquish its rights.

Fakedex’s Potentially Illegal Capital Raise

By 24 June 2021, Fakedex raised 2,952,718 Kadena (KDA) tokens worth, at their peak, over USD 81.5 million ($81,500,000), in turn issuing Fakedex Tokens ($fKDX). At the time of their capital raise, until 7 December 2021, Fakedex had no legal entity allowing them to raise capital or issue shares. Therefore, Fakedex must have issued these tokens (shares) through a sole proprietorship or sole trader. A sole proprietorship also referred to as a sole trader or a proprietorship, is an unincorporated business for which the individual owner is personally liable.

As a matter of law, sole traders cannot issue shares. Therefore, because of the potential illegality of the capital raise, Fakedex refuses to name who founded Fakedex and solicited the initial private investment. In the United States, Courts use the Howey test to determine if an instrument is classified as a security. In principle, to be a security, the Howey test states a transaction qualifies as a security if it involves the following four elements:

1. An investment of money: Fakedex solicited Kadena and other cryptocurrencies that many investors purchased with fiat currency. Courts have held that the term ‘money’ has expanded to include assets other than money. Therefore, investment in another cryptocurrency would likely meet this test.
2. In a common enterprise: Fakedex’s investors (token holders) have pooled their assets together to invest in the endevour: launching Fakedex. Most federal courts have taken a horizontal approach where a group of individuals pooling funds to establish a joint enterprise meets this test.
3. A reasonable expectation of profit: Fakedex’s marketing materials and solicitations at the time of the capital raise, and still today, would lead any prudent person to expect profit. Fakedex writes that Fakedex is an ‘ideal platform for trading and generating passive income (emphasis added).’ Fakedex wrote that ‘KDX is a deflationary asset that also functions as a governance token for the system; in this way, purchasing and accumulating KDX early on is incentivized, as the overall supply will diminish over time (emphasis added).’ Therefore, purchases of $fKDX tokens at the time would likely believe that their exchange of one asset for $fKDX would generate profit, and this element probably met.
4. Derived from the efforts of others: The value of these $fKDX tokens, at the time of issuance and still now, is derived entirely from the performance of Fakedex, their directors, and employees. The investor has little control or say in how Fakedex uses these tokens. Even if Fakedex did launch the promised DAO, the stakeholders’ $fKDX tokens would entitle them to ‘vote’ much like common shareholders entitled in a traditional Corporation.

Fakedex likely broke numerous laws and regulations under any jurisdiction they claim they sold these funds.

Fakedex’s Intellectual Property Trolling

On 7 December 2021, nearly two months after Kaddex started its company, Fakedex incorporated the legal entity Kaddex US Holdings, Inc (KUSH) in Delaware, United States.

On 3 February 2022, Fakedex’s KUSH filed a single trademark in the United States to troll to disrupt Kaddex from registering its trademark globally. Trademark troll is a pejorative term for any entity that attempts to register a trademark without intending to use it and then threatens to sue others who use it. Fakedex spent approximately USD 1,050 in government fees and likely a similar amount in attorney’s fees.

On 14 March 2022, Fakedex’s KUSH sent a threatening demand via US Postal Mail that Kaddex abandons its application or that Fakedex would take legal action.

On 29 September 2022, Fakedex’s KUSH filed their first thirty (30) day extension to oppose Kaddex, LLC’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) trademark serial number 97072385

On 19 October 2022, Fakedex’s KUSH filed an additional sixty (60) day extension to oppose Kaddex, LLC’s USPTO trademark serial number 97072385. They also filed their first ninety (90) day extension to oppose Kaddex LTD’s USPTO trademark serial number 97358408 and Kaddex Pty Ltd’s USPTO trademark serial 79341627. In support of this extension, they claimed good cause. Specifically, KUSH asserted they needed additional time to investigate the claim and confer with counsel.

On 8 January 2023, the opposition period for Kaddex LLC’s USPTO trademark serial number 97072385 expired without any opposition initiated.

On 5 February 2023, the opposition period for Kaddex LTD’s USPTO trademark serial number 97358408 and Kaddex Pty Ltd’s USPTO trademark serial 7934162 expired without any opposition initiated.

From 14 March 2022 to 3 February 2023, Kaddex attempted to negotiate with Fakedex, making several settlement offers involving payment to Fakedex should Fakedex relinquish using Kaddex’s intellectual property. Despite Fakedex’s trademark trolling, Kaddex knew enforcing its intellectual property rights in court would be more costly than paying Fakedex to discontinue its infringing behaviour.

Fakedex rejected all settlement offers. Kaddex finally discontinued negotiations when FakedexDAO board member Adrian Cardoso began making threatening remarks to Kaddex founder Michael Williams, including threats to ‘rape’ his sister. Cardoso made these threats after several telegram group members called him ‘Zoolander.’ He then sent a private message to Williams and deleted the entire conversation after seeing Williams read the message.

While Williams does believe the person who made these threats against his sister is indeed Cardoso, proving identity on Telegram is complex. Therefore, the readers should exercise their independent judgment and discretion.

Fakedex continues to use Kaddex’s name, branding, trademarks, copyrights, and provisionally pending patents.

On 14 March 2023, despite Fakedex’s intellectual property trolling, the USPTO registered Kaddex’s trademarks with serial numbers 97358408 and 79341627.

Kaddex’s Enforcement Action

Kaddex has begun to enforce its intellectual property rights aggressively. This enforcement includes lodging trademark and copyright claims against service providers hosting Fakedex’s content.

Several content providers have entirely suspended Fakedex from their platforms.

On 21 September 2022, because of a trademark complaint from Kaddex, Medium suspended the account https://medium.com/@kaddex.

Fakedex waited a bit, then started a new medium account, @kdxdao.

On 1 February 2023, because of a trademark complaint from Kaddex, Medium suspended the account https://medium.com/@kdxdao.

Fakedex created a new account with another provider, Ghost.io, the next day. On 11 February 2023, because of a trademark and copyright complaint from Kaddex, Ghost.io suspended the account https://kdx-dao.ghost.io.

Fakedex, if they believed they were not infringing on Kaddex’s intellectual property, had the opportunity to provide a sworn statement to these providers contesting Kaddex’s claims. However, Fakedex has chosen not to do this as they know it would open them up to further legal liability, including a requirement that they submit to US jurisdiction and provide an address for service.

On 10 February 2023, upon reviewing and validating a complaint received by Kaddex, Discord removed 77 instances of infringing content from Fakedex’s Discord.

On 10 February 2023, the same day, upon reviewing and validating a complaint received by Kaddex, Twitter removed five (5) instances of infringing content from Fakdex’s Twitter, https://twitter.com/KaddeXofficial.

On 12 February 2023, Kaddex submitted a takedown request for another 465 instances of intellectual property infringement present on Fakedex’s Discord and another 45 instances on Twitter.

On 13 February 2023, Fakedex re-published infringing materials through their Twitter, including restoring logos for which Kaddex owns the copyright.

On 14 February 2023, Twitter, upon reviewing and validating a complaint received by Kaddex, Twitter removed 465 instances of infringing content from Fakdex’s Twitter, including almost all images that embedded Kaddex’s trademark and copyrighted logos.

On 15 February 2023, Twitter forwarded Kaddex a DMCA Counterclaim from Fakedex, advising us that Fakedex is continuing to assert trademark rights.

Kaddex received the DMCA Counterclaim from Fakedex’s Liam Hill:

• Full name: Liam Hill
• Address: 1 Durham Close, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, LE13 0RJ, GB
• Email: [email protected]
• Telephone: +44 7827 994607
• Reporter’s Username: KaddeXofficial

Fakedex’s Kaddex.com Domain

Kaddex and the community have long wondered who actually owned Kaddex.com. From the beginning, the origins of ownership were mysterious. Fakedex used the site kaddex.com as the home of their first capital raise and continued to use it to intentionally and maliciously infringe and profit on Kaddex’s intellectual property.

The community has asked Fakedex numerous times who owned Fakedex, and Fakedex has yet to answer them. As recently as 4 February 2023, the community raised the question again through an Ask Me Anything (AMA) question. The official response by Fakedex is included below:

The reason Fakedex has fought so hard to prevent the valid owner of Fakedex from coming to light will become more apparent through this section.

As discussed earlier, Fakedex had no legal entity until 7 December 2021. Therefore, whoever owns kaddex.com is the de-facto owner of the entire company and is entirely responsible for their activities until at least 7 December 2021.

Fakedex had employed a proxy or private registration service (Registration Private, Domains By Proxy, LLC) to prevent individuals from discovering their identity, to conceal themselves from potential lawsuits, and to hinder any due diligence or investigative work.

On 18 February 2023, knowing Kaddex was legally closing in on them, Fakedex announced their intent to rebrand the company in an attempt to evade responsibility and enforcement for their intellectual property trolling and infringement.

On 21 February 2023, in an attempt to stop Fakedex’s intellectual property infringement on Kaddex.com, Kaddex filed a Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy Complaint (UDRP Complaint) to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) seeking to transfer the registration of Kaddex.com to Kaddex. WIPO assigned the complaint number D2023-0761.

On 22 February 2023, in response to the WIPO UDRP complaint, Domains By Proxy, LLC revoked the private registration of Kaddex.com. Kaddex then discovered the actual owner of the domain is EGNATHIA GOLF CLUB which is indirectly owned by or closely connected to Francesco Melpignano or his family. Kaddex has included extracts from the Italian Business Registrar and other supporting records at the top of the page in the Kaddex.com Domain Ownership folder (see the Supporting Documentation section).

WHOIS Extract
Registrant Name: EGNATHIA GOLF CLUB SOCIETA' DILETTANTISTICA A.R.L
Registrant Organization: EGNATHIA GOLF CLUB
Registrant Street: VIA C. MONTEVERDI 16
Registrant City: ROMA
Registrant State/Province: Rome
Registrant Postal Code: 00198
Registrant Country: IT
Registrant Phone: +44.4764757868
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: [email protected]


On 24 February 2023, investigative journalist Ruud Janssen wrote an article entitled Is Kadena LLC’s Relationship with Kaddex Threatening the Decentralized Future of the Kadena Blockchain?, archived at https://perma.cc/QST7-PA8W, where he discusses the association between Fakedex, Francesco Melpignano, and the golf club. A copy of Ruud’s article is included directly below.

On 25 February 2023, after being made aware of the WIPO UDRP complaint and knowing they were likely to lose kaddex.com, Fakedex announced, through Twitter, a significant event on 28 February 2023. Any reasonable prudent observer would ascertain this is the launch of their new brand. In fact, on 28 February 2023, Fakedex rebranded to eckoDAO (see Fakedex’s Rebranding).

Therefore, after reviewing these records, Kaddex unequivocally asserts that EGNATHIA GOLF CLUB owns the domain and is responsible for all activities undertaken by Fakedex until at least 7 December 2021. After 7 December 2021, Kaddex argues that EGNATHIA GOLF CLUB is a party to all activities of Fakedex by providing them the domain platform. EGNATHIA GOLF CLUB would have had to verify the domain name’s WHOIS and ownership data at least once during their registration cycle.

Kaddex asserts that at trial, sufficient evidence will be uncovered during discovery to prove EGNATHIA GOLF CLUB’s involvement and, therefore, will launch legal action to recover damages against EGNATHIA GOLF CLUB.

Any other explanation asserted by EGNATHIA GOLF CLUB is to deflect legal, financial, and repetitional responsibility.

Fakedex knows EGNATHIA GOLF CLUB has significant tangible assets within a jurisdiction and therefore attempted to conceal and evade their involvement and ownership over their infringing enterprise.

On 1 March 2023, WIPO commenced UDRP case D2023-0761.

Fakedex’s Rebranding

On 28 February 2023, Fakedex rebranded to ecko, announcing

Kaddex’s Legal Action

After the breakdown in settlement negotiations, Kaddex is planning extensive legal action across numerous jurisdictions. Unlike Fakedex, Kaddex believes considerable planning and thought are required before commencing any legal action. Kaddex has been working with our attorneys to prepare a winning strategy in court. We intend to avail ourselves of the fruits under the law, including recovering all damages, goodwill, assets, and derived intellectual property due to Fakedex’s infringement. Fakedex used Kaddex’s intellectual property to solicit funds and rush a product to market. Had the infringement not occurred, community members would have invested those funds into Kaddex.

Kaddex will recover any assets it is able from Fakedex, including, but not limited to, domain names (kaddex.com), derivative intellectual property, and funds.

Kaddex is confident they will prevail against Fakedex in every action they take.

Application of Trademark Law

When applying trademark law, there are generally two types of jurisdictions: first to use and first to file.

First-to-use jurisdictions protect applicants of trademarks who file an application with an earlier priority date than another organisation’s actual or filed intent to use the same mark. Jurisdictions would grant this protection if the filing party had a bona fide intent to use the mark at the time of filing.

First-to-file jurisdictions, general civil law countries protect the filing applicant a trademark. Therefore, even if another party had actual use before that date, they could not oppose the registration. Some countries laws may permit the non-owner of the mark to continue using it if their use does not expand beyond the geographic area for which they had already engaged in commercial use.

Therefore, given Kaddex’s trademarks have a priority date before Fakedex’s actual use of the mark, Fakedex has been engaging in infringing behaviour. While Kaddex argues Fakedex has still not engaged in the use of the mark in commerce, the earliest date Fakedex could claim commercial use is the launch of the DEX on 1 August 2022. Fakedex announced in multiple public forums that they did not launch until 1 August 2022.

To reiterate, even if a court did not accept that Kaddex used the mark in commerce before Fakedex, they still have priority as they filed multiple applications before Fakedex’s application.

Fakedex would need to overcome four registered trademarks in the United States and prove their actual use before 14 October 2021, which is impossible as they publicly claim their launch on 1 August 2022. Otherwise, Fakedex would need to prove that Kaddex did not have a bona fide intent to use the mark. Demonstrating a lack of intention to use the mark is impossible as Kaddex expended significant monies building out its business plan, marketing, founding legal entities, onboarding contractors, hiring employees, founding websites, social media, and more. Kaddex firmly believes it would meet the burden of proof requirement in any legal challenge.

Even if Fakedex were to overcome the marks in the USA, the law would essentially block them from using the mark anywhere else in the world, including Switzerland. Therefore, Kaddex would seek a remedy against Fakedex in Switzerland and forbid them from further use. Mark, in addition to transferring the domain and all assets to Kaddex.

There is no chance for Fakedex to succeed in Kaddex’s action against them, and the cost to even litigate would be enormous and detrimental.

Fakedex Legal Entities

KaddexDAO Association (FakedexDAO Association)
Address:
C/O Centralis Switzerland GmbH
Gotthardstrasse 28
6302 Zug
Switzerland

Represented By:

• Attorney: Michael Frisch
• Firm: Croke Fairchild Duarte & Beres
• Address: 180 N LaSalle Street | Suite 3400 | Chicago, IL 60601-2501 | United States of America
• Telephone: +1 973 451 8647
• Email: [email protected]

Kaddex US Holdings, Inc. (KUSH)
Address:
C/O National Registered Agents, Inc.
1209 Orange Street
Wilmington, DE 19801,
United States

Represented By:

• Attorney: Wendi Opper Uzar
• Firm: Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti LLP
• Address: Headquarters Plaza | One Speedwell Avenue | Morristown, NJ 07962-1981 | United States of America
• Telephone: +1 973 451 8647
• Email: [email protected]

Egnathia Golf Club Societa Dilettantistica A R.L.
Address:
Via Claudio Monteverdi
1600198 Roma RM
Italy

Represented By:

• Attorney: T.B.D.
• Firm: T.B.D.
• Address: T.B.D.
• Telephone: T.B.D.
• Email: [email protected]

Kaddex’s Long-Term Strategy & Fakedex’s Impact on Kaddex

Some community members ask if Kaddex owns all this intellectual property, why is Kaddex taking so long to release an actual functional DEX? The question is fair, and Kaddex enumerates the reason below:

1. Once Fakedex launched, the Kadena team immediately endorsed them. In retrospect, this makes sense, given the later-discovered indications that Francesco founded, owned, and was instrumental in Fakedex’s establishment. Given their access to cash flow and investment they solicited using Kaddex’s intellectual property, Fakedex immediately gained false legitimacy in the marketplace. This perceived officiality allowed them to attract the small amount of available talent to complete work on a DEX. Therefore, using Kaddex’s intellectual property Fakedex made it impossible for Kaddex to access the requisite human capital even to begin work to complete their idea.
2. Cost-effectively enforcing Kaddex’s legal rights has taken many hours of Mr Williams’ time. Williams has done as much work as possible to reduce costs, as Kaddex has yet to raise funds.
3. Despite numerous attempts, Kadena refused to provide Kaddex with a namespace. Kaddex believes Kadena denied Kaddex’s multiple namespace requests intentionally. We assert they did this due to the significant financial compensation they receive from Fakedex. Confidential sources have provided tips that the Kadena team may have received over USD 40 million in compensation from Fakedex.
4. Releasing further code or ideas without a solid legal foundation is irrational and not in the best interests of Kaddex. Fakedex has shown they are not afraid to steal intellectual property and code. Much of the community has demonstrated they are apt to believe Fakedex despite Kaddex providing significant factual evidence. Kaddex wants to give Fakedex no additional opportunity to steal its intellectual property and pass it off as Fakdex’s own. Kaddex believes the community finally realises how poorly Fakdex operates and how they have failed to spend the time involved to properly architect a solution.
5. Kaddex has yet to raise any money and is entirely funded by Michael Williams. Completing the DEX requires the financial and human capital resources that Kaddex needs. Kaddex’s main priority is ensuring it has established a solid legal foundation and framework, shut down all intellectual property trolls, and completed all legal action against infringers. Kaddex believes in the next three (3) to five (5) months, we will be able to solicit funds from the community through KaddexDAO.
6. Kaddex wants to be different from Fakedex, who rushed an overly complicated subpar project to the market that routinely fails and only tacitly if at all, meets the promises they made to the community. Fakedex routinely moved its deadlines, and they could not provide any roadmaps, not to mention roadmaps with dates. Fakedex did not communicate with its stakeholders and consistently overpromised and underdelivered. Kaddex is the opposite. Kaddex believes they require extensive planning and thought before delivering a working solution.
7. Kaddex believes in a simple but effective DAO structure that retains the power of the people. The DAO structure proposed by Fakedex is broken, and the structure is overly complex. Kaddex believes the structure presented and actively being implemented by Fakedex allows for easy manipulation by determined stakeholders (such as the Fakedex board). In short, their governance model limits a single wallet holding, yet a determined individual like a Fakedex Board member would easily create multiple wallets. Moreover, the Fakedex board, through Discord, controls the calculation and administration of Vibedust.
    
   Fakedex’s administrators and moderators can remove, delete, ban, expel, or suppress members and commentary that runs contrary to their selfish values. Through their off-chain Vibedust configuration channel, they can quickly increase the weights of certain community members. An adversary could easily create hundreds, if not thousands, of discord accounts and continue to upvote their own commentary, thus increasing the Vibedust multiplier.
    
   In summary, the Fakedex structure ensures control of the elite few in the Fakedex ecosystem. Any willing actor could easily create hundreds or thousands of wallets, link those hundreds or thousands of wallets to Discord, and then continually upvote their own commentary and contributions. Of course, this process is even more straightforward if the manipulation is on the FakedexDAO board or the board themselves, as they could increase the weights of specific emojis or scores. Fakedex, through their actions, has shown they will abuse the system as much as possible to retain control. For more information, visit https://ruudy.medium.com/ (PDF versions available at the top). Kaddex would be remiss if they did not incorporate the lessons learned from Fakedex’s manipulation.
8. Lastly, and most importantly, the Dex is only as strong as the community that supports it. Kaddex believes shutting down Fakedex and allowing the broken community to come back together under Kaddex will build the camaraderie required to learn from Fakedex’s mistakes and finally deliver the success and ecosystem the Kadena community deserves. Kaddex plans to involve the community as real and actual participants, unlike Fakedex, who used the community as pawns to give the community a false sense of security and fleece others.

Kaddex suggests that even if you do not believe aspects of this history, no prudent investor should support an organisation that fails on every level: legal, operational, design, implementation, and community involvement.

Kaddex is and will deliver on each of these aspects. Kaddex is approaching the process correctly in building on a bedrock legal framework that ensures the community’s funds are secure and free from attack. Kaddex’s proposal around the DAO structure, DEX design, and operational framework is superior to Fakedex’s.