What you need to know about Tinder’s parent company suing Bumble

In the world of dating apps, there is one company that dominates the platforms.

Named Match Group, this is the company that owns the majority of dating apps and services, such as Match.com, PlentyOfFish, OkCupid, and Tinder.

There’s a notable app missing from that list – Bumble, set up by ex-Tinder employee Whitney Wolfe Herd in 2014.

Whilst Match’s previous efforts to acquire Bumble have fallen short, including a $450 million acquisition offer, Match is now suing the start-up for patent infringement.

Match Group vs Bumble lawsuit

At the end of last week, Match filed a lawsuit accusing Bumble of infringing on patents held by Tinder.

One patent relates to the infamous Tinder swipe, named “Matching Process System and Method”, wherein users of the app swipe profiles and mutually select one another.

The other patent is named “Display Screen or Portion Thereof With a Graphical User Interface of a Mobile Device”. Match calls this an “ornamental aspect of Tinder’s app”.

As well, the lawsuit also alleges other similarities between the two apps and says that Bumble’s descriptions of “swiping” infringe the registered trademarks.

Why is the Tinder Bumble lawsuit a big deal?

Back when Tinder was just starting out, Bumble’s founder Wolfe Herd was part of the co-founding team of the highly successful dating app.

However, she later left the company and sued its co-founder and CEO Sean Rad, and another co-founder Justin Mateen. Wolfe Herd's suit alleged that the two founders subjected her to “horrendously sexist, racist, and otherwise inappropriate comments, emails and text messages,” before firing her.

Wolfe launched the suit in June 2014, before Tinder settled the case a few months later in September 2014, for around $1 million.

Following her experience at Tinder, Wolfe went on the launch her company, which focuses on women being the first one to make a move.

As well as the dating aspect of Bumble, it also has Bumble BFF, a platform to make friends, and Bumble Bizz, which encourages its users to seek mentors and new work opportunities.

Given Wolfe’s history with Tinder, this lawsuit is notable, however Match is keen to stress that this is not the case.

“To be clear, this case is not about any Bumble personnel’s personal history with anyone previously at Tinder,” the suit says.

“Rather this case is simple about forcing Bumble to stop competing with Match and Tinder using Match’s own inventions, patented designs, trademarks, and trade secrets. Match brings this complaint to stop Bumble’s unlawful use of this intellectual property.”

Despite Match's protestations, the close connections between Bumble and Tinder mean that there is no getting away from Wolfe Herd's personal history with her previous employer.

As well, there could be other reasons for the suit.

TechCrunch reported last year that talks have been ongoing between Match and Bumble about an acquisition so this lawsuit could be a way to force Bumble to give in.

The Evening Standard has contacted both Match and Bumble for a statement.