AI Startup Perplexity Demanded Alleged Trademark Infringement

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

In a grievance filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, attorneys representing a company 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, applied to sign up 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 office partnership software application, including an unified control panel for HR analytics and a videoconferencing tool called Perplexity Meet. The company secured a trademark registration by November 2022 and began 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 post if either party remarks.

The Texas company alleges that AI startup Perplexity started infringing on its hallmark “in or around” August 2022 to promote its AI-powered search engine. The month prior – July 2022 – Perplexity had actually registered the domain perplexity.ai, which the problem likewise alleges is violation.

“The [Perplexity] site presently situated at the infringing domain name plainly includes the Perplexity [hallmark],” the problem checks out,” [and] the infringing goods and services are highly similar to those used by Perplexity [Solved Solutions] and attract a similar customer base. For example, Perplexity [Solved Solutions’] ‘Perplexity Meet’ and defendant’s ‘Perplexity Spaces’ both are software application platforms that help with interaction and cooperation among colleagues in companies and other companies.”

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

The grievance alleges that Perplexity has actually “filled the marketplace” with its infringing branding, including marketing throughout its numerous social media accounts. The AI start-up declined to buy the Perplexity trademark in September 2023 when offered, per the problem, and instead decided to declare its own hallmark with the USPTO, which is still pending.

According to the complaint, Perplexity didn’t comply with a cease 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 usage of its hallmark is most likely to plant confusion.

“In fact, upon info 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 defendant’s infringing products and services.”

The grievance declares that Perplexity’s conduct violates laws, including the Lanham Act – the U.S. federal law that controls trademarks and unjust competitors. Among other types of legal relief, Perplexity Solved is seeking to bar Perplexity from utilizing its hallmark, as well as 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 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 websites have expressed issues that Perplexity closely reproduces their material – simply last October, The New York Times sent out the start-up a cease and desist letter.

TechCrunch has an AI-focused newsletter! Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.