(Follow-up Report) Clawdbot officially changes its name to OpenClaw! A brilliant move to leverage trademark priority after the AI project went viral, perfectly countering those who tried to register

As we previously reported, the phenomenal open-source AI project "Clawdbot" received demand inquiry due to its name's similarity to Anthropic's Claude, forcing it to urgently change its name to Moltbot. It also suffered the humiliation of having its old GitHub account hacked. This brand public relations crisis serves as a wake-up call for many developers.

However, the story has taken a new turn: the team recently officially renamed the project OpenClaw. It's worth noting that this time the founding team has "learned a lesson," going beyond a simple name change to demonstrate a textbook-level trademark defense strategy. They not only submitted registration applications in various locations and with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) (original US application number: 99649714, applicant: Amantus Machina GmbH ), but also cleverly utilized the trademark priority mechanism to successfully block other malicious applications suspected of preemptive registration (such as USPTO application number: 99637201, applicant: Di Wang, Individual from China).

What exactly is trademark priority? Why can't trademark squatters ever catch up with the original creators? This article will break down this "miraculous operation" for you.

What is Trademark Priority? The Golden Moat for Overseas Expansion Projects

According to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and relevant agreements of the World Trade Organization, trademark applicants have a six-month priority period.

Simply put, once you file your first trademark registration application in any member state (such as your home jurisdiction, or Austria, Hong Kong, the United States, or the European Union), you are granted a "golden protection period" of up to six months. During these six months, if you file applications for the same trademark in other member states, the dates of these subsequent applications can be "backdated" and legally considered as your first application date.

This means that if anyone (such as an overseas trademark squatter) secretly submits the same or similar trademark in another country between your first application and subsequent applications, your application will still be considered as "submitted earlier" by the authorities, thus directly thwarting their attempt to register the trademark.

Dissecting OpenClaw's counter-attack strategy: Why can't the bidder catch up?

During the Clawdbot era, the team might suffer significant losses due to their strategy of releasing first and registering later, which led to suspected others preemptively registering their applications. Learning from this experience, the team, Amantus Machina GmbH, completely changed their strategy after renaming themselves OpenClaw :

1. Secret preparation and initial application IMMEDIATELY: Before announcing the new name to the public, they first submitted the initial trademark application in Austria, establishing the earliest "priority benchmark date".

2. Leveraging Priority to Establish a Foothold in the United States (USPTO): Subsequently, they filed a claim with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and legally asserted their priority rights abroad.

3. Unfazed by subsequent attempts to grab the registration (e.g., 99637201): As long as you hold the priority, even if the suspected registrant's application was submitted earlier, it will be rejected during the review process.

We'll use the following "Battle Summary" to visually recreate this trademark battle, showing how the original creator used magic cards to counterattack the registrant:

Application Dimension	Original owner (Amantus Machina GmbH)	Suspected fraudster ( Di Wang )	Battle Analysis and Results
U.S. Trademark Application Number	99649714	99637201	Both parties filed applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to compete.
US Filing Date	February 12, 2026	February 5, 2026	Looking at the US mailing date alone, the person who registered the site registered it 7 days earlier than the original team.
Overseas Priority Deployment	(Has priority of claim)	X	The original team used the Paris Convention to establish a moat overseas in advance.
First-time overseas application record	Country: Austria Application Number: AM 20232/2026	Not applicable	The original team has already completed the layout preparations.
The officially recognized "effective priority day" in the United States.	January 29, 2026	February 5, 2026	The original creator wins!

In summary: Even though the application was submitted in the United States on February 12, the statutory priority date (January 29, 2026) was still a full week earlier than those who rushed to register.

Three key trademark inspirations for AI developers and startups

OpenClaw's journey from passive to active defense provides valuable practical experience for all startups:

1. Register before public announcement: Never announce a new project or name without any trademark protection. You should submit a trademark application when you register your domain and GitHub account.

   
   

2. Utilize the 6-month priority period to save cash flow: You don't need to spend huge sums of money applying for trademarks in 50 countries simultaneously from the start. You can submit your application in a core market (such as Hong Kong/your country of origin) first, using this 6-month buffer period to observe the product's response. If the product becomes a hit, you can then use the priority period to expand to other countries globally within the specified timeframe, securing the earliest application date while maintaining flexible budget control.

   
   

3. Continuously monitor trademark activity: Even after submitting an application, regularly monitor the official trademark database. If any suspected cases of trademark squatting are discovered, take immediate action through the priority mechanism.

In conclusion: Don't let your viral project become someone else's cash cow.

The Clawdbot renaming controversy teaches us that in today's fast-paced product dissemination environment, a brand's sudden popularity is often accompanied by a huge risk of trademark squatting. Once a trademark is stolen, the subsequent legal fees and redemption costs will be dozens of times the original registration fee.

Don't want to repeat Clawdbot's mistakes? Want to leverage "trademark priority" to flexibly expand globally like OpenClaw?

Regeasy.hk specializes in trademark registration and layout strategies in Hong Kong, the United States, and globally. We understand the pain points and budget considerations of startups and can tailor the most effective protection solutions for you, helping you spend your money wisely.

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