Corporate Counsel (May 18, 2018) – Match Group, which owns Tinder, OKCupid, PlentyofFish and other prominent online dating sites, has been engaged in litigation on multiple fronts lately, showing that just because a company is in the business of helping users find love, doesn’t mean its behavior toward competitors will be at all affectionate.

So, Match’s newest rival in the online dating market, Facebook Inc., might want to have its in-house lawyers review Match’s recent intellectual property lawsuits if the company wants to avoid the potential for litigation in its latest venture.

…

David Suter, a principal at Harness IP & Pierce, said he “cannot speak to the merits” of Match’s position relative to Facebook or other competitors, but clearly “Match is willing and able to assert its IP, a fact that raises the risk profile in any assessment of its IP.”

Suter continued, “As a new and prominent entrant into this market, Facebook will need to look closely at Match’s position, along with what I’d assume to be a large volume of other competitive IP. Facebook can be assured that Match will be looking closely at whatever it does, and needs to do its homework accordingly.”

…

Read full article.