• Dating giant Match is suing smaller, Muslim-oriented dating startup Muzmatch in the UK.
  • Match accused Muzmatch of "free-riding" off its reputation in court on Monday.
  • Match has previously successfully targeted its rivals in court.

Online dating giant Match Group, whose empire includes Plenty of Fish, Tinder, and Hinge, has accused smaller, Muslim-focused rival Muzmatch of "free-riding" off its reputation in court proceedings this week.

Match is suing London-based Muzmatch, alleging the app copied the look and feel of its logo and apps and used the word "Match" and "Tinder" in its SEO and meta tags to boost traffic. It claims users could confuse Muzmatch for its own services.

The court battle, which played out over Monday and Tuesday, exemplifies the messy business reality behind the boom in dating apps. Match, with a current market cap of $33 billion, has previously targeted rival firms for allegedly copying its apps, and has previously sued Bumble and threesome app 3nder, now called Feeld.

Muzmatch was founded by Shahzad Younas as a website in 2011. In court filings, it claimed Match's legal action came after Younas turned down four acquisition offers from Match in 2018 and 2019. When acquisition talks failed, Match purchased a different Muslim-orientated dating app, launched it in the UK, and sued his firm, the filings stated.

How the Muzmatch app looks in action
How the Muzmatch app looks in action.
Muzmatch

In the courtroom, Match claimed it was "only happy" to "possibly" tolerate Muzmatch's look and feel while it was a small, free, community-based Muslim marriage service.

But over the years, Match claimed, Muzmatch has become a serious competitor in online dating.

Muzmatch said it has more than 3.8 million registered users. Match, according to its own filing, has 12 million active users for Match.com alone, plus millions more across its other apps. 

Younas' startup argued that "match" is a descriptive word for matchmaking, and that users can distinguish between Match and Muzmatch due to their different target markets. Muzmatch is centered around faith and marriage, with users looking for life partners and not casual dates, Younas previously told Insider. 

Muzmatch called the case a "wholly-transparent attempt by a global corporation" to lay claim to a word that describes the industry, while "eliminating" all competition on the Muslim dating landscape.

The two-day trial, which concluded on Tuesday, was heard before the UK Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court. A decision on the case is expected in six weeks.

The pair have already settled a separate Texas suit alleging patent infringement, filed in March 2021. Muzmatch later removed swiping from the app. 

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