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AI Startup Perplexity Demanded Alleged Trademark Infringement

Perplexity, the venture-backed startup structure AI-powered search items, has actually been taken legal action against in federal court for apparently breaching another company’s hallmark.

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

Perplexity Solved Solutions primarily sells HR and workplace cooperation software, including an unified dashboard for HR analytics and a videoconferencing tool called Perplexity Meet. The company protected a hallmark registration by November 2022 and started promoting items on its website, perplexityonline.com, a domain that Perplexity Solved Solutions had signed up in 2021.

Perplexity and counsel for Perplexity Solved Solutions did not respond since press time. TechCrunch will the post if either party 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 online search engine. The month prior – July 2022 – Perplexity had registered the domain perplexity.ai, which the grievance also alleges is infringement.

“The [Perplexity] website currently located at the infringing domain plainly features the Perplexity [trademark],” the grievance checks out,” [and] the infringing items and services are extremely comparable to those used by Perplexity [Solved Solutions] and attract a similar client base. For instance, Perplexity [Solved Solutions’] ‘Perplexity Meet’ and defendant’s ‘Perplexity Spaces’ both are software application platforms that help with communication and collaboration among colleagues in services and other companies.”

Perplexity Spaces, which the San Francisco-based AI startup released for enterprise clients in October, are hubs with a customizable AI assistant and ports to third-party platforms, apps, and file systems.

The grievance declares that Perplexity has actually “saturated the market” with its infringing branding, including marketing throughout its different social media accounts. The AI startup decreased to acquire the Perplexity trademark in September 2023 when used, per the grievance, and instead chose to file for its own trademark with the USPTO, which is still pending.

According to the grievance, Perplexity didn’t adhere to a cease 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 say that Perplexity’s usage of its hallmark is most likely to plant confusion.

“In truth, upon info and belief, consumers currently have actually been confused,” the complaint reads. “For example, on numerous occasions, social networks users have actually ‘tagged’ Perplexity in their posts about accused’s infringing goods and services.”

The complaint alleges that Perplexity’s conduct breaches laws, including the Lanham Act – the U.S. federal law that controls hallmarks and unfair competitors. To name a few types of legal relief, Perplexity Solved Solutions is looking for to bar Perplexity from utilizing its hallmark, along with the hallmark “Perplexity AI,” pay damages, and transfer ownership of any domains that include Perplexity branding.

It’s the most recent courtroom headache for Perplexity, which is currently fighting 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 actually revealed issues that Perplexity carefully duplicates their content – just last October, The New york city Times sent out the start-up a cease and desist letter.

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