AI Startup Perplexity Demanded Alleged Trademark Infringement

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

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

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

Perplexity Solved Solutions mainly offers HR and workplace collaboration software, including a combined dashboard for HR analytics and a videoconferencing tool called Perplexity Meet. The business secured a trademark registration by November 2022 and started promoting items on its website, perplexityonline.com, a domain that Perplexity Solved Solutions had registered 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 business alleges that AI startup Perplexity began infringing on its trademark “in or around” August 2022 to promote its AI-powered online search engine. The month prior – July 2022 – Perplexity had actually registered the domain perplexity.ai, which the complaint likewise alleges is infringement.

“The [Perplexity] website currently situated at the infringing domain name prominently features the Perplexity [trademark],” the complaint reads,” [and] the infringing items and services are highly similar to those offered by Perplexity [Solved Solutions] and attract a comparable consumer base. For instance, Perplexity [Solved Solutions’] ‘Perplexity Meet’ and accused’s ‘Perplexity Spaces’ both are software application platforms that facilitate communication and cooperation among coworkers in businesses and other companies.”

Perplexity Spaces, which the San Francisco-based AI startup launched for business customers in October, are hubs with a personalized AI assistant and adapters to third-party platforms, apps, and file systems.

The problem alleges that Perplexity has actually “filled the market” with its infringing branding, including marketing throughout its various social networks accounts. The AI start-up declined to buy the Perplexity hallmark in September 2023 when used, per the complaint, and instead chose to declare its own trademark with the USPTO, which is still pending.

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

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

“In fact, upon information and belief, consumers already have been puzzled,” the complaint checks out. “For instance, on numerous celebrations, social networks users have ‘tagged’ Perplexity in their posts about offender’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 trademarks and unreasonable competitors. Among other 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 consist of Perplexity branding.

It’s the most current courtroom headache for Perplexity, which is presently fighting a claim submitted by News Corp’s Dow Jones and the NY Post over what the complainants refer to as a “content kleptocracy.” Many other news sites have expressed concerns that Perplexity carefully reproduces their content – simply last October, The New york city Times sent out the start-up a stop and desist letter.

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