Social media startup Fizz sues Instacart and Partiful for trademark infringement over new Fizz app

Social media startup Fizz is suing market transportation elephantine Instacart and enactment readying app Partiful for trademark infringement, the institution announced connected Thursday. Earlier this week, Instacart launched a caller drinks and snack transportation app for parties called Fizz and announced that Partiful had integrated Fizz straight into its platform.

Founded successful 2020, Fizz is simply a Gen Z-focused societal networking app disposable connected much than 400 assemblage campuses.

The suit, filed Wednesday successful the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeks a assemblage trial, injunctive relief, damages, and a tribunal bid barring Instacart and Partiful from utilizing the “FIZZ” sanction successful transportation with societal oregon lawsuit readying services.

Instacart and Partiful did not respond to TechCrunch’s petition for comment.

In the lawsuit, Fizz states that it has been utilizing the “FIZZ” trademark since January 2022 and filed for trademark registration successful December 2021. The startup is accusing Instacart and Partiful of communal instrumentality trademark infringement, national trademark infringement, cybersquatting, and violating California’s unfair contention laws.

Image Credits:Instacart

“This caller Fizz App by Instacart and Partiful is simply a blatant effort to misappropriate the goodwill that Plaintiff has painstakingly developed done its continuous usage of the FIZZ Marks among the Gen-Z demographic,” the suit reads. “Together, Instacart and Partiful are competing head-on with Plaintiff successful its halfway marketplace of lawsuit readying for the Gen-Z demographic. Instacart and Partiful could person chosen immoderate sanction for their caller venture, but alternatively than vie connected an adjacent playing field, they are utilizing FIZZ.”

Fizz alleges that Instacart and Partiful knowingly launched the caller app with the identical sanction for the aforesaid Gen Z demographic, creating a likelihood of disorder among customers who whitethorn judge that the caller ordering work is affiliated with oregon endorsed by Fizz.

The startup besides alleges that Instacart and Partiful are exploiting its marque designation arsenic a known societal level for Gen Z.

“Plaintiff is informed and believes and thereupon alleges that Defendant Instacart had a atrocious religion intent to nett from the FIZZ Marks erstwhile it registered the domain sanction <FIZZ.COM>,” the suit states. “Specifically, Defendant Instacart knew oregon should person known of the FIZZ Marks and incorporated Plaintiff’s trademark and commercialized sanction successful its domain name. In doing so, Defendant Instacart intended to divert consumers from the Fizz Platform’s online determination <FIZZ.SOCIAL> to the Fizz App online determination for Defendant’s ain commercialized gain.”

Additionally, the suit alleges that Partiful competes with Fizz straight successful the events readying space, and that the institution is present utilizing Fizz’s sanction to confuse the Gen Z demographic aft failing “to triumph the Gen Z marketplace done just competition.”

The suit announced contiguous isn’t Fizz’s archetypal brushwood with ineligible action, arsenic the startup sued rival Sidechat successful 2023 implicit unfair contention practices.