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AI Startup Perplexity Sued For Alleged Trademark Infringement

Perplexity, the venture-backed startup building AI-powered search items, has actually been taken legal action against in federal court for allegedly breaking another company’s trademark.

In a grievance filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, lawyers representing a company called Perplexity Solved Solutions implicate Perplexity of infringing on its trademark rights by utilizing the brand “Perplexity.”

Perplexity Solved Solutions, a Plano, Texas-based company established in 2017, applied 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 workplace cooperation software application, including a combined control panel for HR analytics and a videoconferencing tool called Perplexity Meet. The business secured 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 respond as of press time. TechCrunch will update the article if either celebration remarks.

The Texas business alleges 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 – Perplexity had registered the domain perplexity.ai, which the complaint also declares is violation.

“The [Perplexity] website presently located at the infringing domain name plainly features the Perplexity [trademark],” the problem reads,” [and] the infringing goods and services are highly similar to those offered by Perplexity [Solved Solutions] and appeal to a comparable client base. For example, Perplexity [Solved Solutions’] ‘Perplexity Meet’ and defendant’s ‘Perplexity Spaces’ both are software platforms that assist in communication and partnership amongst colleagues in companies and other companies.”

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

The complaint declares that Perplexity has actually “filled the market” with its infringing branding, consisting of marketing throughout its numerous social networks accounts. The AI startup declined to acquire the Perplexity trademark in September 2023 when offered, per the complaint, and instead decided to declare its own hallmark with the USPTO, which is still pending.

According to the complaint, Perplexity didn’t adhere to a stop and desist letter from Perplexity Solved Solutions’ counsel, and it hasn’t withdrawn its pending trademark application – despite 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 plant confusion.

“In reality, upon details and belief, customers currently have been confused,” the grievance checks out. “For instance, on many celebrations, social media users have ‘tagged’ Perplexity in their posts about offender’s infringing products and services.”

The problem declares that Perplexity’s conduct violates laws, including the Lanham Act – the U.S. federal law that controls trademarks and unjust competition. To name a few types of legal relief, Perplexity Solved Solutions is seeking to bar Perplexity from utilizing its trademark, as well as the hallmark “Perplexity AI,” pay damages, and transfer ownership of any domains that include Perplexity branding.

It’s the latest courtroom headache for Perplexity, which is currently battling a lawsuit submitted by News Corp’s Dow Jones and the NY Post over what the complainants refer to as a “content kleptocracy.” Many other news websites have revealed issues that Perplexity closely reproduces their simply last October, The New York Times sent out the start-up a stop and desist letter.

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