Bumble hits back, Tinder sues another dating app
Bumble has hit back at Match Group, the owner of dating app Tinder, in response to a “copycat” lawsuit filed by Match last week.
Location-based dating app Bumble released its statement yesterday, March 20, where it claimed that the lawsuit is being used as a tactic to intimidate Bumble after Match’s failed attempt to buy the dating app last year.
“We’ll never be yours,” the statement addressed to Match said, “no matter what the price tag”.
Match’s claim, which was filed at the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division, on Friday, March 16, described Bumble as a “copycat” and “Tinder-clone”. It accused Bumble of patent, trademark, and trade dress infringement, as well as trade secrets violation.
Match alleged that Bumble’s interface technology infringes US patent number 9,733,811, which relates to the matching functions of the Tinder app, and US design patent D798,314, which covers the aesthetic element relating to Tinder’s swiping of cards.
According to the suit, Bumble was founded by three ex-executives of Tinder who “copied Tinder’s world-changing, card-swipe-based” premise.
Referring to Tinder’s swipe mechanism, which allows users to swipe right to connect with a user or swipe left to not, Bumble said: “We swipe left on your attempted scare tactics.”
“We—a woman-founded, women-led company—aren't scared of aggressive corporate culture. That's what we call bullying, and we swipe left on bullies. Ask the thousands of users we've blocked from our platform for bad behavior”, the release added.
One day before Bumble’s response surfaced, Tinder took on Chinese rival Tantan at the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division.
The claim accused Tantan of infringing design patents and trademarks owned by Match by copying Tinder’s revolutionary swiping system.
Tantan was acquired by Chinese social media app Momo for $760 million last month, according to The Financial Times. Momo has 94.4 million monthly active users—compared to Tinder’s 30 million.
“In connection with Tantan’s recent acquisition by Momo, publications repeatedly described Tantan as the ‘Chinese Tinder’,” Match’s complaint said. It accused the Chinese dating app of having a “nearly identical” match screen and featuring the famous swipe function.
Match also accused Bumble of infringing design patent D798,809, which relates to the design of user profiles on the app.
All parties have been approached for comment.
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