Stuff like this is what me lose all faith/hope/trust in the US legal system. I used to be a patriotic and loyal citizen but after reading so many similar such stories of injustice, I no longer believe that this country’s evil and corrupt system is worth protecting.
In the US, anyones company can be financially destroyed by wealthy competitors who abuse the corrupt legal system via bad faith lawsuits like this one. In this case, his $35 million business is being destroyed by Match because simply because the name contains the simple English word “match”—a common word associated with matchmaking-a common word associated with dating services for decades before match.com existed, and also because it briefly utilized a “swipe” left/right system for likes—a most basic UI interaction concept which should never have been allowed a copyright to begin with. I’ve heard many such stories of companies being destroyed by having to pay 6-7 figure sums defending themselves from frivolous lawsuits like this one. The courts here are so corrupt here that it saddens me and made me lose faith after hearing so many such stories.
The founder of this must not understand or care for the rammifications of passing off laws.
By calling it Muzmatch.com there are almost certainly people who thought it was a spin-off from Match.com, a market leader with trusted standards of operation. This is why you lose passing off cases.
If he'd have called it something that wasn't extremely similar to market incumbents he'd have a leg to stand on, and the story he tells on their blog is trying to paint themselves as the victims here but they really aren't.
The likelihood is that they will change their name and the vast majority of their existing users will carry on as-is. That's quite a win as he should consider himself lucky that they haven't been sued for loss of earnings by Match.com against the entire time they have been open.
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That said, it is ridiculous that something like match can be a trademark and that the ruling is in favor of the competitor.
By calling it Muzmatch.com there are almost certainly people who thought it was a spin-off from Match.com, a market leader with trusted standards of operation. This is why you lose passing off cases.
If he'd have called it something that wasn't extremely similar to market incumbents he'd have a leg to stand on, and the story he tells on their blog is trying to paint themselves as the victims here but they really aren't.
The likelihood is that they will change their name and the vast majority of their existing users will carry on as-is. That's quite a win as he should consider himself lucky that they haven't been sued for loss of earnings by Match.com against the entire time they have been open.