Tinder and Bumble settle dating app dispute
Rivals Tinder and Bumble have agreed to resolve a trademark and patent clash centred on their dating apps.
In a motion filed Thursday, June 18, Tinder’s parent company Match Group and Bumble asked the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division to dismiss the lawsuit which accused Bumble of developing a “Tinder-clone”.
Back in March 2018, Match filed a complaint against “copycat” Bumble, alleging that Bumble was committing patent, trademark and trade dress infringement, and trade secrets violation.
According to Match, Bumble’s user interface, chat screen, and other features are “nearly identical” to that of Tinder, while its advertising makes use of references to “swipes”, demonstrating efforts to “co-opt Match’s trademarks and trade dress”.
Bumble soon hit back in a statement, claiming that the suit was filed in an attempt to intimidate it, after Match’s failed attempt to buy the dating app last year.
“We swipe left on you. We swipe left on your multiple attempts to buy us, copy us, and, now, to intimidate us. We'll never be yours. No matter the price tag, we'll never compromise our values,” said Bumble.
Bumble then filed complaints against Match in a Texas state court, alleging that the internet company tortiously interfered in attempts to sell Bumble.
Then, in April this year, Match accused Bumble of “gamesmanship” and “exploiting” the COVID-19 crisis to postpone the Western District of Texas case.
“Defendants are exploiting the country’s COVID-19 crisis to attempt to allow their preferred venue, the inter partes review proceedings, to leap ahead of this one,” said Match’s letter to the court.
Bumble had challenged three of Match’s patents before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).
On Friday, June 19, the board announced its termination of the challenges after the parties jointly asked the PTAB to terminate the patent reviews.
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