Drama is heating up between the dating apps.
Tinder, which is owned by Match Group, is suing rival Bumble, alleging patent infringement and misuse of intellectual property.
The suit alleges that Bumble “copied Tinder’s world-changing, card-swipe-based, mutual opt-in premise.”
It’s complicated because Bumble was founded by CEO Whitney Wolfe, who was also a co-founder at Tinder. She wound up suing Tinder for sexual harassment.
Yet Match hasn’t let the history stop it from trying to buy hotter-than-hot Bumble anyway. As Axios’s Dan Primack pointed out, this lawsuit may actually try to force the hand for a deal.
(It wouldn’t be the first time a dating site sued another and then bought it. JDate did this with JSwipe.)
I have, um, tested out both Tinder and Bumble and they are similar. Both let you swipe on nearby users with limited information like photos, age, school and employer. And users can only chat if both opt-in.
However, Tinder has developed more of the reputation as a “hookup” app and Bumble doesn’t seem to have quite the same image, largely because it requires women to initiate the conversation, thus setting the tone.
We’ve reached out to the companies for comment.
