An intellectual property (IP) ownership could soon end up in a fight of digital dogs.
Own The Doge DAO, a collective that holds the original ‘doge’ meme, on Tuesday said it had acquired the rights to use pet shiba inu Neiro’s images and was holding a community discussion on which NEIRO token can continue to use the dog’s liking.
“We’re pleased to announce that @kabosumama has officially granted our DAO the Neiro IP,” Own The Doge said on X. “When Atsuko revealed the name of her new adopted dog, Neiro, many tokens were launched in an attempt to capitalize on her name and story.”
“However, since then, these various tokens have battled each other to become the ‘real’ Neiro, with no agreed criteria. But it does not have to be this way. Our DAO owns the IP rights for Neiro,” the post said, adding that the doge community could join the DAO and vote for which token they considered the “real” one.
The ongoing discussion will let the community and outside members comment and find a way forward to use Neiro’s IP, before being put into an actual on-chain proposal voted on by DOG token holders.
Neiro is the shiba inu adopted by the human owner of Kabosu, the dog that inspired the “doge” meme, after she passed away in July. The announcement of a new dog spurred the creation of numerous NEIRO tokens on Solana and Ethereum at the time — with two such tokens surging to hundreds of millions in market capitalization and enjoying active communities as of Wednesday.
As far as Neiro’s owner Kabosumama was concerned, none of the tokens were legitimate.
“I see many tokens related to Kabosu and Neiro. To clarify, I do not endorse any crypto project except @ownthedog $dog because they own the original Doge photo and IP,” she said in an X post at the time. “They are committed to doing only good every day, charitable works, and Doge culture.”
“Please watch out for token scams,” she said.
The discussion has sprouted opinions from various token teams that use or are around Neiro — each claiming to be the first or claiming to be better than the other.
“We believe the Neiro IP should correspond with the first Neiro meme coin on-chain,” @Neirowoof, the first NEIRO token on any chain, said on the discussion page. “This being the original Neiro with a dedicated community who’s mission has been to guard the legacy of Kabosu since the day Atsuko made her blog post announcing Neiro’s adoption.”
“Unfortunately, we have been up against several power-hungry forces whose only goal was to usurp the narrative for a quick financial gain. Being the first Neiro means something special, as we are the true Sister of DOGE and the Guardians of Kabosu’s Legacy. We will never stop loving both Kabosu and Neiro for the lovely creatures and memes that they are,” the team added.
The discussions come as IP-backed memecoins start to become an important topic in the world of memecoins, which have so far operated without any legal troubles.
IP, or intellectual property, can include characters from memes, video games, or any cultural phenomenon that have officially been trademarked or copyrighted before their tokens were offered to the public.
Tokens are starting to face the risk of legal action from IP holders if they do not own or securing rights to the IP they emulate or represent. Non-IP tokens like chillguy (CHILLGUY) and pnut (PNUT) are already facing legal challenges despite being popular and widely traded.
On Monday, Mark Longo, the owner of Peanut the Squirrel which inspired the PNUT token, issued a cease-and-desist letter to Binance, accusing it of trademark infringement for listing and offering the PNUT memecoin.
Longo claimed Binance used his “Peanut the Squirrel” trademark and mascot likeness without permission, noting he has been using the PNUT brand for educational and animal welfare initiatives since 2017.
Could NEIRO tokens see the same fate soon? Their communities will decide.