And they can, Twitter (why everything gets claimed as his personal work I never know) isn't using their trademark.
As they (Groq) themselves have said...
> the difference of one consonant (q, k) only matters to scrabblers and spell checkers
Grok the term has been around since at least 1961.[0] The fact that a company decided to take a common term (especially in the CS field), change one letter and trademark it doesn't mean nobody can use the original spelling at all.
Funnily enough, Groq is trying to claim grok and groq are not associated terms in court filings while trying to bully another company with the same name:
> The word “Groq” essentially did not exist before Ross created it and has no known meaning in any language beyond its intended association with Groq, Inc.
vs that companies reply
> The word “grok” originated in Robert Heinlein’s 1961 novel Stranger in a Strange Land. Merriam Webster defines “grok” as “to understand profoundly and intuitively.” The Oxford English Dictionary defines “grok” as “[t]o understand intuitively or by empathy; to establish rapport with.”
Once Groq realized their trademark didn't include healthcare data, they tried to trademark...the other companies name.
Groq, in arguing that their mark is different from "grok" (at the USPTO) is because one cannot trademark common words. They are applying for plain marks (without font/color/logo) and this is very normal. I went through this with a proper name trademark
In the Groq vs Grok, they are arguing that the average person will confuse the marks (as can be seen in many HN posts about Groq, like this one). Their argument is that Grok should not be given a trademark beforehand due to this potential confusion. They can also take the case to court should the trademark be granted. Given the common confusion, Groq appears to have good standing to make this argument.
To call someone defending their own trademarks "bullying" is inaccurate
Groq says no such thing. Their two public things so far include
1) a company that rebranded to Groq Healthcare < 2 year after Groq launched (their trademark at the time had nothing to do with health, they then added it to their trdemark and tried to trademark the competitors name)
2) a C&D to twitter over the name
