Match Group and Bumble Fail to Settle Privately

Match Group and Bumble have reportedly failed to settle outside of court, six months after word of their legal battles broke.

In March, Match Group opened a case against Bumble for patent infringement. The plaintiffs alleged: “Bumble, founded by three ex-Tinder executives, copied Tinder’s world-changing, card-swipe-based, mutual opt-in premise.”

“As acknowledged by third-party publications upon its release, Bumble is ‘virtually identical’ to Tinder in its functionality and general look-and-feel.”

Whitney Wolfe Herd’s app retaliated by publishing an open letter in the New York Times, telling Match “We swipe left on you” and “We’ll never be yours. No matter the price tag”.

Bumble then filed a countersuit, accusing Match of the misappropriation of trade secrets.

During acquisition talks, Bumble claims to have revealed confidential information to parties from Match. Match took this information and used it for competitive advantage, the case goes.

“We really believe in standing up for what’s right and protecting ourselves, and so we are now going to be serving this, and we are going to take this through the courts,” Wolfe Herd told Forbes.

“We have the resources, we have the intellectual capital, and we have the confidence and the knowledge that we will win this.”

A Bumble representative told the publication that the two companies had hoped to come to an agreement outside of court, but that they were unable to do so.

Wolfe Herd thinks that Match is nervous about the prospect of facing a publicly owned competitor in the USA.

She says: “If you think about the current landscape of the public American market when it comes to competitive businesses such as ours, Match is somewhat of a monopoly.”  

“(…) There is a need for a new IPO in this space, and we offer something that nobody else offers. This would allow us to really spread our wings at a new level.”

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