Bumble Responds to Match Group Allegations in Open Letter
Whitney Wolfe Herd’s Bumble has responded to allegations from Match Group that it has infringed patents and misappropriated trade secrets.
In an open letter posted in The Beehive, The New York Times and Dallas Morning News, Bumble told Match Group: “We swipe left on you”.
The letter, entitled ‘Bumble Swipes Left on Match Group/Tinder Allegations’, goes on to say: “We’ll never be yours. No matter the price tag”.
It claims the lawsuit is “baseless” and that Match Group is trying to intimidate the Bumble team into an acquisition.
“That’s what we call bullying, and we swipe left on bullies”, it reads.
The post concludes: “We as a company will always swipe right for empowered moves, and left on attempts to disempower us. We encourage every user to do the same. As one of our mottos goes, ‘bee kind or leave.’
“We wish you the best, but consider yourselves blocked.”
The letter also covers Tinder’s proposal to introduce a ‘women speak first’ mode that could be toggled on and off.
Match Group alleged that Bumble is a “Tinder-clone”, and that Chris Gulczynski, Whitney Wolfe Herd and Sarah Mick are responsible for taking confidential feature ideas from Tinder to Bumble.
It argues “Match Group has invested significant resources and creative expertise in the development of our industry-leading suite of products. We are committed to protecting the intellectual property and proprietary data that defines our business.”
Read more here.