Payments giant PayPal sued beleaguered music streaming company Pandora Media over alleged similarities in the two technology companies’ logos.
According to a lawsuit filed last week, PayPal alleges that Pandora’s blue “P” logo is “unlawfully similar” to that of PayPal’s.
Pandora unveiled a new and softer logo in late 2016. PayPal said that after the new branding was released, many consumers were noticeably confused. In the suit, PayPal cites a number of Tweets in which users are confused by the similarities of the two logos.
Both logos are blue and use the letter “P” as the centralized part of the lego. “It was against this backdrop that Pandora deserted its longstanding logo and latched itself onto the increasingly popular PayPal logo as part of its efforts to catch up to its competition,” the lawsuit reads.
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PayPal (“PYPL”) asserted that Pandora (“P”) was having serious problems with its business when it launched the new logo and has “no obvious path to profitability,” amid competition from others in the streaming music world such as Spotify and Apple Music. The payments company then alleges that Pandora “latched” itself onto the success of PayPal but copying its logo.
Pandora has lost 75% of its market value since 2014, and has been reportedly looking for an acquirer since last year. After reporting dismal earnings a few weeks ago, the company is facing increased pressure to sell, and said recently that it is exploring “strategic alternatives.”
PayPal, which redesigned its own blue logo in 2014, also said that it reached out to Pandora privately to discuss the matter, but that the music company ignored PayPal’s outreach. The payments company also registered its logo with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2014.
