AI Startup Perplexity Demanded Alleged Trademark Infringement

Perplexity, the venture-backed start-up building AI-powered search products, has been taken legal action against in federal court for presumably breaking another company’s hallmark.

In a problem submitted Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, lawyers representing a company called Perplexity Solved Solutions accuse Perplexity of on its hallmark rights by using the brand “Perplexity.”

Perplexity Solved Solutions, a Plano, Texas-based firm established in 2017, used to sign up the Perplexity trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in October 2021, according to the grievance.

Perplexity Solved Solutions mainly offers HR and office cooperation software application, consisting of a merged control panel for HR analytics and a videoconferencing tool called Perplexity Meet. The company protected a trademark registration by November 2022 and began promoting items on its website, perplexityonline.com, a domain that Perplexity Solved Solutions had actually signed up in 2021.

Perplexity and counsel for Perplexity Solved Solutions did not react since press time. TechCrunch will upgrade the short article if either celebration remarks.

The Texas business declares that AI start-up Perplexity started infringing on its hallmark “in or around” August 2022 to promote its AI-powered search engine. The month prior – July 2022 – Perplexity had actually registered the domain perplexity.ai, which the problem likewise declares is violation.

“The [Perplexity] site presently situated at the infringing domain name prominently features the Perplexity [trademark],” the problem checks out,” [and] the infringing products and services are highly comparable to those provided by Perplexity [Solved Solutions] and interest a similar client base. For example, Perplexity [Solved Solutions’] ‘Perplexity Meet’ and accused’s ‘Perplexity Spaces’ both are software platforms that assist in interaction and cooperation amongst coworkers in services and other organizations.”

Perplexity Spaces, which the San Francisco-based AI startup released for enterprise consumers in October, are centers with an adjustable AI assistant and adapters to third-party platforms, apps, and file systems.

The problem alleges that Perplexity has “filled the marketplace” with its infringing branding, consisting of marketing across its numerous social networks accounts. The AI start-up declined to purchase the Perplexity trademark in September 2023 when offered, per the grievance, and rather chose to file for its own hallmark with the USPTO, which is still pending.

According to the complaint, Perplexity didn’t comply with a stop and desist letter from Perplexity Solved Solutions’ counsel, and it hasn’t withdrawn its pending trademark application – in spite of efforts to oppose the application before the USPTO’s trial and appeal board.

Attorneys for Perplexity Solved Solutions state that Perplexity’s use of its trademark is most likely to plant confusion.

“In reality, upon information and belief, customers already have actually been confused,” the complaint reads. “For instance, on various events, social media users have actually ‘tagged’ Perplexity in their posts about accused’s infringing items and services.”

The grievance declares that Perplexity’s conduct violates laws, consisting of the Lanham Act – the U.S. federal law that regulates hallmarks and unreasonable competition. Among other kinds of legal relief, Perplexity Solved Solutions is looking for to bar Perplexity from utilizing its hallmark, as well as the hallmark “Perplexity AI,” pay damages, and transfer ownership of any domains that consist of Perplexity branding.

It’s the current courtroom headache for Perplexity, which is presently battling a suit submitted by News Corp’s Dow Jones and the NY Post over what the complainants explain as a “content kleptocracy.” Many other news sites have expressed concerns that Perplexity closely duplicates their material – simply last October, The New york city Times sent out the startup a stop and desist letter.

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