Pudgy Penguin has been sued by the apparel brand Penguin for trademark infringement. The apparel brand elevated trademark infringement and turned it into a legal case after the Pudgy Penguin neglected Penguin’s cease-and-desist legal order back in October 2023.
NFT brand Pudgy Penguins is in a spot of bother as PEI Licensing, the company behind the apparel brand Penguin, sued the NFT company for violating trademark rights in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on March 4, 2026. The clothing brand took matters seriously, lodging a lawsuit after Pudgy Penguins kept on going about manufacturing products that infringe on and dilute PEI’s famous PENGUIN Marks.
Penguin accused the Pudgy Penguin of making products and using trademarks that were quite similar to the original Penguin, confusing the buyer.
“This action results from Defendant’s unauthorized use and attempted registration of various PENGUIN word and design trademarks in connection with apparel and related goods and services that are confusingly similar to PEI’s federally registered and famous PENGUIN and penguin design trademarks,” PEI said in its complaint.
In addition, PEI demanded that Pudgy Penguins abandon applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office “to register various PENGUIN marks,” according to the lawsuit.
In particular, PEI asked the court to order the USPTO to reject Pudgy Penguins’ applications and stop the company from allegedly infringing on its trademark.
Moreover, it also requested that the court order Pudgy Penguins to destroy any product found “likely to be confused” with PEI’s trademarks and be awarded all profits from the sales of such products.
With the NFT market struggling and most of the brands looking down the barrel, Pudgy Penguins began to sell plush toys in 2023 in Walmart and Target. And around a year later, Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz announced that his company had sold over one million toys.
