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 apparently breaking another company’s hallmark.

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 accuse Perplexity of infringing on its hallmark rights by utilizing the brand name “Perplexity.”

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

Perplexity Solved Solutions mostly sells HR and work environment collaboration software, including an unified control panel for HR analytics and a videoconferencing tool called Perplexity Meet. The company protected a hallmark registration by November 2022 and began promoting products on its website, perplexityonline.com, a domain that Perplexity Solved Solutions had registered in 2021.

Perplexity and counsel for Perplexity Solved Solutions did not respond since press time. TechCrunch will update the post if either party comments.

The Texas business declares that AI startup Perplexity started infringing on its trademark “in or around” August 2022 to promote its AI-powered online search engine. The month prior – July 2022 – Perplexity had signed up the domain perplexity.ai, which the complaint likewise alleges is infringement.

“The [Perplexity] website presently located at the infringing domain name plainly features the Perplexity [trademark],” the problem checks out,” [and] the infringing goods and services are highly comparable to those used by Perplexity [Solved Solutions] and attract a comparable customer base. For instance, Perplexity [Solved Solutions’] ‘Perplexity Meet’ and offender’s ‘Perplexity Spaces’ both are software application platforms that help with communication and cooperation among associates in services and other organizations.”

Perplexity Spaces, which the San Francisco-based AI start-up launched for business clients in October, are centers with a customizable AI assistant and ports to third-party platforms, apps, and file systems.

The complaint declares that has “saturated the marketplace” with its infringing branding, consisting of marketing across its various social media accounts. The AI start-up declined to buy the Perplexity hallmark in September 2023 when used, per the complaint, and instead opted to apply for its own hallmark with the USPTO, which is still pending.

According to the grievance, Perplexity didn’t comply with a stop 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 state that Perplexity’s usage of its hallmark is likely to sow confusion.

“In reality, upon information and belief, customers currently have been confused,” the grievance checks out. “For instance, on various events, social networks users have actually ‘tagged’ Perplexity in their posts about offender’s infringing goods and services.”

The grievance declares that Perplexity’s conduct breaks laws, including the Lanham Act – the U.S. federal law that regulates trademarks and unreasonable competitors. Among other forms of legal relief, Perplexity Solved Solutions is looking for to bar Perplexity from utilizing its trademark, along with the hallmark “Perplexity AI,” pay damages, and transfer ownership of any domains that consist of Perplexity branding.

It’s the most recent 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 refer to as a “content kleptocracy.” Many other news sites have actually expressed issues that Perplexity carefully reproduces their content – just last October, The New York Times sent the startup a cease and desist letter.

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