Paypal accuses India's largest mobile wallet company of copying its logo
Global payments company Paypal has filed a copyright infringement notice against Indian mobile wallet provider Paytm citing similarities between the logos of both brands.
Paytm, backed by Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba, is India’s largest mobile wallet company.
In a notice filed to the Indian Trademark office, the Silicon Valley firm has alleged that Paytm’s logo is “deceptively and confusingly similar” to Paypal’s. It has also accused the Indian company of “slavishly adopting the two-tone blue colour scheme in its entirety”.
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The notice further states that both logos begin with the term ‘Pay’, which could cause “a likelihood of confusion” among customers. A copy of the notice is available online.
Paypal’s move has come at an interesting time. Paytm’s trademark application was at final step of registration and was advertised on Jul. 18 for acceptance, which marked the beginning of a statutory period of four months within which said trademark could be opposed.
It turns out that Paypal filed for trademark opposition on Nov. 18, the very last day of expiry of the said period. It has also surprised legal experts as Paytm is not new in the business. The Noida-based company started operations in 2010.
After the Indian government’s recent ban on high-value currency notes, Paytm and other e-wallet companies have received a major push. Some experts reckon there is a tinge of competitive concern in Paypal’s notice.
“Paytm has been around for some time now and PayPal could have objected to the use of the mark by initiating legal proceedings. This wasn't done. Whilst filing of oppositions is fairly normal in the industry, in the present case, it may also be a competitive move,” a counsel at one of India’s leading law firms told The Economic Times.
Mashable India reached out to both Paypal and Paytm for comment but did not receive a response.
In 2010, e-commerce major eBay had filed a similar notice against Indian food tech company Zomato (which was then known as Foodiebay) but legal proceedings came to naught as Foodiebay rebranded itself as Zomato within days of the notice.
However, it is unlikely Paytm will follow Zomato's playbook.
