American company PayPal has filed the complaint against Paytm for using similar colours in its logo.
Global online payments system PayPal, has filed a trademark infringement complaint with the Indian Trademark office against Indian e-commerce company Paytm for using similar colours in its logo, reported Hindustan Times.
According to the report, PayPal argued that the Indian mobile wallet had no reason to use similar colours if it did not want to take advantage of PayPal's global reputation and use it to increase its user base.
“(Paytm) slavishly adopted the two-tone blue colour scheme of PayPal in its entirety. While the first syllable in each mark is in dark blue colour, the second syllable adopts a light blue colour… Further, both marks begin with the term ‘PAY’ which consumers tend to remember more than the second syllable, with the marks being of similar length,” said the PayPal notice according to HT.
In this trademark battle, if Paytm loses and subsequently changes the colour scheme of its logo, it could make a significant dent in the company's identity especially because it has been spending aggressively to advertise since demonetization. Using its trademark since 1999, PayPal has appealed to the trademark registration body to refuse Paytm's application for trademark registration.
Paytm which is touting to complete two billion registrations this year may see a slowdown in its growth momentum because of PayPal's infringement complaint. However, PayPal is not the first company which is attempting to add hurdles to Paytm's growth trajectory. According to the HT report, MobiKwik's Bipin Preet Singh claimed that Paytm is using foreign investments to acquire consumers through cashbacks, and that the method is not sustainable business model. However this is not a new manner as other Indian internet giants like Flipkart, Snapdeal, ShopClues and Ola, use foreign investments to fund discounts and acquire more customers.
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