AI Startup Perplexity Demanded Alleged Trademark Infringement

Perplexity, the venture-backed start-up building AI-powered search items, has actually been sued in federal court for apparently violating another company’s trademark.

In a grievance submitted Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, attorneys representing a company called Perplexity Solved Solutions implicate Perplexity of infringing on its hallmark rights by using the brand name “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 problem.

Perplexity Solved Solutions primarily offers HR and office cooperation software application, consisting of a combined control panel for HR analytics and a videoconferencing tool called Perplexity Meet. The company secured a trademark registration by November 2022 and started promoting products on its site, perplexityonline.com, a domain that Perplexity Solved Solutions had actually signed up in 2021.

Perplexity and counsel for Perplexity Solved Solutions did not react as of press time. TechCrunch will upgrade the post if either celebration remarks.

The Texas company declares that AI startup Perplexity began infringing on its hallmark “in or around” August 2022 to promote its AI-powered search engine. The month prior – July 2022 had registered the domain perplexity.ai, which the grievance also declares is violation.

“The [Perplexity] site currently situated at the infringing domain name plainly includes the Perplexity [trademark],” the complaint checks out,” [and] the infringing items and services are highly comparable to those provided by Perplexity [Solved Solutions] and interest a similar customer base. For example, Perplexity [Solved Solutions’] ‘Perplexity Meet’ and defendant’s ‘Perplexity Spaces’ both are software platforms that help with interaction and collaboration among coworkers in organizations and other companies.”

Perplexity Spaces, which the San Francisco-based AI start-up released for business consumers in October, are hubs with a personalized AI assistant and connectors to third-party platforms, apps, and file systems.

The complaint alleges that Perplexity has actually “filled the marketplace” with its infringing branding, consisting of marketing across its different social networks accounts. The AI start-up decreased to purchase the Perplexity trademark in September 2023 when used, per the grievance, and rather decided to submit for its own trademark with the USPTO, which is still pending.

According to the problem, Perplexity didn’t abide by a cease and desist letter from Perplexity Solved Solutions’ counsel, and it hasn’t withdrawn its pending trademark application – regardless 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 likely to sow confusion.

“In fact, upon info and belief, customers currently have been puzzled,” the problem reads. “For example, on various occasions, social media users have ‘tagged’ Perplexity in their posts about offender’s infringing items and services.”

The problem alleges that Perplexity’s conduct breaks laws, consisting of the Lanham Act – the U.S. federal law that regulates hallmarks and unreasonable competition. To name a few kinds of legal relief, Perplexity Solved Solutions is looking for to bar Perplexity from utilizing its trademark, as well as the trademark “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 currently battling a suit filed by News Corp’s Dow Jones and the NY Post over what the plaintiffs describe as a “content kleptocracy.” Many other news websites have actually revealed issues that Perplexity carefully reproduces their material – simply last October, The New york city Times sent the start-up a stop and desist letter.

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