AI Startup Perplexity Demanded Alleged Trademark Infringement

Perplexity, the venture-backed start-up structure AI-powered search products, has been sued in federal court for presumably breaching another company’s trademark.

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

Perplexity Solved Solutions, a Plano, Texas-based company founded in 2017, used to sign up the Perplexity hallmark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in October 2021, according to the problem.

Perplexity Solved Solutions primarily offers HR and office collaboration software, including an unified control panel for HR analytics and a videoconferencing tool called Perplexity Meet. The company protected a trademark registration by November 2022 and started promoting products on its site, perplexityonline.com, a domain that Perplexity Solved Solutions had signed up in 2021.

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

The Texas company alleges that AI start-up 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 signed up the domain perplexity.ai, which the complaint also declares is infringement.

“The [Perplexity] site currently located at the infringing domain name plainly features the Perplexity [trademark],” the grievance checks out,” [and] the infringing products and services are extremely comparable to those provided by Perplexity [Solved Solutions] and interest a similar customer base. For instance, Perplexity [Solved Solutions’] ‘Perplexity Meet’ and defendant’s ‘Perplexity Spaces’ both are software application platforms that assist in interaction and collaboration among coworkers in companies and other companies.”

Perplexity Spaces, which the San Francisco-based AI start-up released for business customers in October, are hubs with an adjustable AI assistant and ports to third-party platforms, apps, and file systems.

The problem declares that Perplexity has actually “saturated the market” with its infringing branding, consisting of marketing across its different social media accounts. The AI start-up declined to acquire the Perplexity trademark in September 2023 when provided, per the complaint, and instead opted to declare its own trademark with the USPTO, which is still pending.

According to the complaint, Perplexity didn’t abide by a cease and desist letter from Perplexity Solved Solutions’ counsel, and it hasn’t withdrawn its pending hallmark application – regardless of efforts to oppose the application before the USPTO’s trial and appeal board.

Attorneys for Perplexity Solved Solutions say that of its hallmark is most likely to plant confusion.

“In fact, upon details and belief, consumers already have been confused,” the problem reads. “For instance, on numerous celebrations, social networks users have ‘tagged’ Perplexity in their posts about accused’s infringing items and services.”

The grievance declares that Perplexity’s conduct breaks laws, including the Lanham Act – the U.S. federal law that controls trademarks and unreasonable competitors. To name a few forms 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 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 actually revealed issues that Perplexity carefully duplicates their material – just last October, The New York Times sent out the start-up a stop and desist letter.

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