A Muslim courting and marriage app, Muzmatch, misplaced a authorized battle on Wednesday towards the homeowners of Tinder, one of many world’s hottest courting apps, after a British courtroom dominated that the start-up had infringed on the multibillion-dollar firm’s logos.
Match Group — a courting web site conglomerate that owns Match.com, OKCupid and Hinge in addition to Tinder — sued Muzmatch for infringing on its trademarked brand, utilizing “match” in its identify and “unfairly benefiting” from the corporate’s repute and funding in its model.
The ruling, from the Mental Property Enterprise Court docket in London, might imply that Muzmatch, which says it has six million customers around the globe, should change its identify and pay damages. Its founder and chief government, Shahzad Younas, mentioned Muzmatch would file an enchantment.
“We’re extra centered than ever on our mission of reworking how Muslims meet and marry,” he mentioned.
Match Group mentioned it was “happy that the courtroom acknowledged what now we have recognized to be true: that Muzmatch has unfairly benefited from Match Group’s repute and funding in its model and was using Match Group’s coattails for undeserved acquire on this extremely aggressive market.”
In its courtroom paperwork, Match argued that its dominance within the on-line courting market meant customers would mistakenly assume Muzmatch was a “sub-brand” particularly focused at Muslim customers due to its use of “match” in its identify.
Muzmatch mentioned “match” was merely an English phrase related to matchmaking.
Mr. Younas, a former funding banker, began Muzmatch in 2011, aiming to assist single Muslims discover spouses on-line in ways in which had been suitable with Islamic values. A cellular app was launched in 2015. The service is usually listed among the many main courting apps for Muslims, and has attracted $9 million in financing.
Match Group, based mostly in america, reported $3 billion in income final yr and greater than 16 million paying clients.
The dispute goes again to 2016 when Match objected to the start-up’s trademark registration for “Muzmatch” in Europe and the United States. Attorneys from Match additionally objected to the usage of a coronary heart and the font in Muzmatch’s brand on the time, which had been finally eliminated.
As Muzmatch’s consumer base grew, Match made approaches to purchase the corporate, finally providing as much as $35 million in 2019, Mr. Younas mentioned.
Satisfied that the conglomerate couldn’t assist the app develop, Mr. Younas, Muzmatch’s sole director, turned the supply down. Later that yr, Match acquired Harmonica, a Muslim courting start-up in Egypt.
Match didn’t affirm whether or not it had been considering shopping for Muzmatch or whether or not Muzmatch’s description of the method was correct.
Mr. Younas mentioned he was involved that the courtroom ruling might have a chilling impact on smaller companies within the tech business.
“That is simply their tactic,” he mentioned. “They’ll courtroom you, they’ll get your information, they’ll try to purchase you, and when that doesn’t work, they’ll both go after a competitor or they’ll simply kill you,” Mr. Younas mentioned. “1,000,000 {dollars} for them in authorized charges is small change. For us, it’s every thing.”
