AI Startup Perplexity Sued For Alleged Trademark Infringement

Perplexity, the venture-backed startup structure AI-powered search items, has been sued in federal court for supposedly breaking 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 accuse Perplexity of infringing on its hallmark rights by utilizing the brand “Perplexity.”

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

Perplexity Solved Solutions mainly offers HR and workplace cooperation software, consisting of a merged control panel for HR analytics and a videoconferencing tool called Perplexity Meet. The company secured a hallmark 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 since press time. TechCrunch will upgrade the post if either party comments.

The Texas business alleges that AI startup 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 signed up the domain perplexity.ai, which the grievance also alleges is .

“The [Perplexity] site presently situated at the infringing domain plainly features the Perplexity [trademark],” the complaint reads,” [and] the infringing products and services are extremely similar to those provided by Perplexity [Solved Solutions] and appeal to a comparable customer base. For instance, Perplexity [Solved Solutions’] ‘Perplexity Meet’ and defendant’s ‘Perplexity Spaces’ both are software platforms that assist in interaction and collaboration among coworkers in companies and other organizations.”

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

The complaint declares that Perplexity has “saturated the market” with its infringing branding, consisting of marketing throughout its numerous social networks accounts. The AI startup decreased to acquire the Perplexity trademark in September 2023 when used, per the complaint, and rather opted to declare its own trademark with the USPTO, which is still pending.

According to the complaint, Perplexity didn’t adhere to 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 say that Perplexity’s use of its trademark is most likely to sow confusion.

“In truth, upon information and belief, consumers already have actually been puzzled,” the grievance checks out. “For instance, on numerous occasions, social media users have ‘tagged’ Perplexity in their posts about offender’s infringing products and services.”

The problem alleges that Perplexity’s conduct breaks laws, including the Lanham Act – the U.S. federal law that regulates trademarks and unfair competition. To name a few forms of legal relief, Perplexity Solved Solutions is looking for 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 newest courtroom headache for Perplexity, which is currently fighting a claim submitted by News Corp’s Dow Jones and the NY Post over what the plaintiffs refer to as a “content kleptocracy.” Many other news websites have expressed concerns that Perplexity carefully reproduces their material – simply last October, The New York Times sent out the start-up a cease and desist letter.

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