PEI Licensing, the company behind the Original Penguin apparel brand, filed a trademark infringement suit on March 4, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Pudgy Penguins, an Ethereum NFT collection that has expanded into toys, apparel, partnerships, and a Solana-based token ($PENGU). PEI alleges Pudgy Penguins’ marks, including “Pudgy Penguins,” “Pengu Nation,” “Forever Pudgy Penguins,” and “I Am My Penguin, And My Penguin Is Me,” are confusingly similar to PEI’s long-established Penguin trademarks dating back to the 1950s. PEI owns around 35 registered trademarks covering apparel, accessories, and related goods. The suit seeks injunctive relief, destruction or removal of infringing products, and monetary damages including disgorgement of profits.
Pudgy Penguins started as an Ethereum NFT collection in 2021 with 8,888 pieces and has since expanded into a broader brand with physical toys, apparel, partnerships, and a Solana-based token. The retail push appears to have triggered the dispute, as it overlaps with PEI’s core apparel business. Pudgy Penguins has argued that its marks are visually and conceptually distinct, target different audiences, and that some marks have already been approved by the USPTO. This highlights tensions between legacy brands and emerging crypton NFT projects over IP in overlapping consumer goods.
Pudgy Penguins publicly responded to the lawsuit, expressing confidence while downplaying the claims. Jennifer McGlone, Chief Legal Officer of Pudgy Penguins and parent company Igloo Inc., said the action was surprising given prior productive discussions, and asserted that PEI’s claims lack merit and that the questioned trademarks are visually distinct from Original Penguin’s marks. She argued Pudgy Penguins serves entirely different audiences and markets—primarily the crypto, NFT, and web3 community—and noted multiple Pudgy Penguins trademarks have received USPTO approvals.
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