Perplexity, the venture-backed start-up structure AI-powered search products, has been sued in federal court for apparently breaking another company's hallmark.


In a complaint submitted Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, lawyers representing a business called Perplexity Solved Solutions implicate Perplexity of infringing on its hallmark rights by using the brand "Perplexity."


Perplexity Solved Solutions, a Plano, Texas-based firm founded in 2017, applied to sign up the Perplexity hallmark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in October 2021, according to the problem.


Perplexity Solved Solutions primarily offers HR and work environment collaboration software, including an unified control panel for HR analytics and a videoconferencing tool called Perplexity Meet. The business secured a trademark registration by November 2022 and started promoting items on its site, perplexityonline.com, a domain that Perplexity Solved Solutions had signed up in 2021.


Perplexity and counsel for Perplexity Solved Solutions did not react as of press time. TechCrunch will upgrade the post if either celebration remarks.


The Texas company alleges that AI startup Perplexity started infringing on its trademark "in or around" August 2022 to promote its AI-powered search engine. The month prior - July 2022 - Perplexity had signed up the domain perplexity.ai, which the complaint likewise alleges is infringement.


"The [Perplexity] site presently located at the infringing domain name plainly includes the Perplexity [hallmark]," the problem reads," [and] the infringing products and services are highly comparable to those offered by Perplexity [Solved Solutions] and appeal to a similar consumer base. For example, Perplexity [Solved Solutions'] 'Perplexity Meet' and defendant's 'Perplexity Spaces' both are software application platforms that help with communication and collaboration amongst associates in companies and other organizations."


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


The grievance alleges that Perplexity has "filled the market" with its infringing branding, including marketing across its numerous social networks accounts. The AI startup decreased to purchase the Perplexity trademark in September 2023 when offered, per the problem, and rather decided to declare its own trademark with the USPTO, which is still pending.


According to the problem, Perplexity didn't abide by a cease and desist letter from Perplexity Solved Solutions' counsel, and it hasn't withdrawn its pending hallmark application - despite efforts to oppose the application before the USPTO's trial and appeal board.


Attorneys for Perplexity Solved Solutions say that Perplexity's usage of its hallmark is most likely to sow confusion.


"In fact, upon info and belief, customers already have actually been puzzled," the complaint reads. "For instance, on various celebrations, social media users have 'tagged' Perplexity in their posts about defendant's infringing goods and services."


The complaint alleges that Perplexity's conduct breaks laws, including the Lanham Act - the U.S. federal law that controls trademarks and unjust competition. Among other types 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 include Perplexity branding.


It's the latest courtroom headache for Perplexity, which is presently fighting a lawsuit filed 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 revealed issues that Perplexity closely replicates their content - simply last October, The New york city Times sent the startup a cease and desist letter.


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