California based payment startup PayPal has filed a trademark infringement case against Indian leading e-wallet company Paytm. The company which was founded by Elon Musk and Peter Thiel in 1998, used a two-toned blue colour scheme for its logo and has alleged that Paytm has used the same pattern to exploit Paypal’s “global reputation and grow its user base.”
PayPal in its notice states, “Such adoption and/or use of the impugned mark is likely to cause confusion and deception amongst members of trade and public in that they will mistakenly believe that the services under the impugned mark originate from the Opponent [PayPal] or that the Applicant [Paytm] is affiliated or connected with the Opponent, which is not the case.”
However, many seems this tactics as a promotional marketing because the complaint came on the final day of the four-month timeframe for registering opposition to six-year-old Paytm’s advertisement of its trademark application.
Paypal was concerned that the similarities between the logos were of such nature as to deceive the public and cause confusion. Paytm has declined to comment on the allegations. Currently, the company is in the final stages of getting its logo registered.