Groupon Heads for Australia but Deals with Identity Issues

Groupon, the world’s largest and ever growing daily deals website that spurned Google’s $6 billion earlier this month now has its sights set on Australia. The company has been signing up Aussie bargain hunters to its email list in preparation for next month’s launch into a market that is already reaching the saturation point.

Last month LivingSocial, currently in the number two social buying spot, ditched its original plans to develop a startup in Australia and instead chose to buy a $5 million controlling stake in an existing deals site, Jump On It.

But Groupon faces other issues besides just trying to squeeze into an already crowded market place, one being an identity problem. An existing Australian company has received approval to use the Groupon name within the country, leaving the U.S. based company scrambling for a new domain name to use for their Australian operations.

This is not the first time that Groupon has had to deal with trademark issues. In August Groupon filed an intellectual property suit against Scoopon, an Australian based company that has been offering deals within its own country for more than four years. The case is due to enter mediation on January 21 and if no agreement is reached the case will head to court on February 4. And Groupon isn’t stopping there. Despite the fact that Scoopon is limited to Australia, Groupon has filed a suit within its home state of Illinois, accusing Scoopon of   federal trademark infringement, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices.

Trevor Choy, intellectual property lawyer said that Groupon, which currently operates in 29 countries, was now paying the price for failing to register its trademark or name.

In case you’re wondering what domain name Groupon chose for its Australian site, it’s Stardeals, not exactly a name daily deals aficionados identify with but does leave us with the question; Is a Groupon by any other name still a Groupon?