Category: Outlets – Tech Crunch

Bumble Responds To Match Group’s Patent Infringement Lawsuit

Posted on September 27, 2018

Bumble logo whiteTECH CRUNCH – Sep 27 – Bumble is continuing to go on the offensive against Match Group by serving Match Group with papers. Bumble is taking Match Group to court for fraudulently obtaining trade secrets during acquisition talks. Today, Bumble is also officially responding to Match Group's suit against it, which claims patent infringement and misuse of intellectual property. "Bumble has today formally responded to Match's lawsuit from March 2018 alleging patent infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets. We believe all of the claims are baseless, and are seeking to have several claims dismissed immediately, given their lack of merit." Bumble says Match Group filed its original lawsuit against it to make it less attractive to other potential acquirers. The claims Match Group makes around patent infringement involve Bumble's use of a stack of profile cards, mutual opt-in, and its swiped-based gestures.

by Sarah Perez
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Tinder’s ‘Swipe The Vote’ Campaign Aims To Educate Young Voters And Get Them To Polls

Posted on September 26, 2018

Tinder swipe the voteTECH CRUNCH – Sep 25 – Tinder has partnered with nonprofit Rock the Vote for a second time, in the hopes of driving young people to the polls through in-app messaging. Only 46% of the 18 to 29-year olds turned out to vote during the 2016 election, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Tinder says it will begin to share "fun facts" with its users during election season in the app. The facts will pop up in the app as often as two to three times a week in the U.S. as a "Swipe the Vote" native display card.

by Sarah Perez
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Tinder In India Launches ‘My Move’, A Bumble-like Feature Where Women Chat First

Posted on September 26, 2018

Tinder mymoveTECH CRUNCH – Sep 25 – "My Move," is similar to the core feature in rival dating app Bumble, which is currently enmeshed in multiple lawsuits with Tinder parent Match Group. Tinder has been quietly testing "My Move" in India for several months, and intends to roll out it out worldwide if all goes well. To use the feature, women go into the app's settings to enable it with a toggle switch. Once turned on, only they can start a conversation with their matches. Previously, anyone could start the chat after a match.

by Sarah Perez
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Bumble Serves Countersuit To Match Group, Says It’s Pursuing An IPO

Posted on September 24, 2018

Bumble app iconTECH CRUNCH – Sep 24 – Bumble is officially serving the papers in the suit against Match Group. Bumble had said in March it was filing a suit of $400M against Match Group for fraudulently obtaining trade secrets, following Match’s suit filed only weeks before, which had claimed patent infringement and misuse of intellectual property. Bumble and Match Group had tried to come to some sort of settlement over the months since the lawsuits were filed. But with court papers now being served, it appears that’s not going to be the case. In terms of how this suit will impact Bumble, Wolfe said, “we’re focused on our growth. We’re focused on ending misogyny, and we’re actively pursuing an IPO.”

by Sarah Perez
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Reasons Not To Trust Facebook To Play Cupid

Posted on September 24, 2018

Zuckerberg-Facebook-DatingTECH CRUNCH – Sep 21 – Facebook getting into dating looks very much like a mid-life crisis – as a veteran social network desperately seeks a new strategy to stay relevant. Facebook is starting its dating experiment in Colombia, as its beta market. Its take on dating looks a lot more ‘marriage material’ than ‘casual encounters’. Though products don’t always pan out how their makers intend. The question is whether any sensible person should be letting Mark Zuckerberg fire cupid’s arrows on their behalf? Here are just a few reasons why we think you should stay as far away from Facebook’s dalliance with dating as you possibly can…

  • It’s yet another cynical data grab. Facebook’s ad-targeting business model relies on users data to exist.
  • Facebook’s history of privacy hostility shows it simply can’t be trusted.
  • Singles already have amazingly diverse app choice.
  • Facebook claims it has the algorithmic expertise but there’s no algorithmic formula to determine what makes one person click with another.
  • Dating takes resource and focus away from problems Facebook should actually be fixing.
  • By getting involved with dating, Facebook is mixing separate social streams.

by Natasha Lomas
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Facebook Dating Is Launching In Colombia

Posted on September 21, 2018

Facebook dating headerTECH CRUNCH – Sep 20 – Users in Colombia are able to create a Facebook Dating profile now, but the company won’t start serving matches until there are enough sign ups. The dating feature is centered around an algorithm-powered homescreen of Suggested romantic matches based on everything Facebook knows about users. There’s no swiping and it’s not trying to look cool. “The goal of the team is to make Facebook simply the best place to start a relationship online”, said Facebook Dating’s product manager Nathan Sharp. For now there are no plans to monetize it with ads or premium subscriptions to bonus features. When users opt in, they verify their city using their phone’s location services, and decide whether to add details like a free-form bio, workplace, education, religion, height, and if they have children. Facebook offers non-binary genders and sexual orientations. To fill out their profile, they’ll choose up to a dozen photos they upload, are tagged in, previously posted to Facebook, or cross-posted from Instagram as well as answer up to 20 questions about their personality. Users can select to filter their matches by distance (up to a max radius of 100km), if they have children, religion, height, and age.

by Josh Constine
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Tinder Launches Its Curated ‘Top Picks’ Feature Worldwide

Posted on September 13, 2018

Tinder top picksTECH CRUNCH – Sep 11 – Earlier this summer, Tinder began testing a new feature that surfaces a curated list of users’ best potential matches, called “Top Picks.” The feature, which is only available to paying subscribers on Tinder Gold, is now available worldwide. The idea behind Top Picks seems a bit inspired by the dating app Coffee Meets Bagel. While Top Picks will refresh daily, users can opt to buy more Top Picks in packs of 10, 20 or 30 a la carte.

by Sarah Perez
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Tinder & Match Lawsuit: Match Group’s Statement

Posted on August 15, 2018

Tinder screenshot on mobileTECH CRUNCH – Aug 14 – A group of Tinder founders and executives has filed a lawsuit against parent company Match Group and its controlling shareholder IAC. The plaintiffs in the suit include Tinder co-founders Sean Rad, Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen who still works at Tinder, as do plaintiffs James Kim (the company's vice president of finance) and Rosette Pambakian (its vice president of marketing and communications). The suit alleges that IAC and Match Group manipulated financial data in order to create "a fake lowball valuation", then stripped Rad, Mateen, Badeen and others of their stock options. The lawsuit also alleges that Greg Blatt, the Match CEO who became CEO of Tinder, groped and sexually harassed Pambakian at the company's 2016 holiday party, supposedly leading the company to "whitewash" his actions long enough for him to complete the valuation of Tinder and its merger with Match Group, and then to announce his departure. The plaintiffs are asking for "compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial, but not less than $2B."

Match Group statement: The allegations in the complaint are meritless, and IAC and Match Group intend to vigorously defend against them. Match Group and the plaintiffs went through a rigorous, contractually – defined valuation process involving two independent global investment banks, and Mr. Rad and his merry band of plaintiffs did not like the outcome. Mr. Rad and Mr. Mateen may not like the fact that Tinder has experienced enormous success following their respective departures. Mr. Rad has a rich history of outlandish public statements, and this lawsuit contains just another series of them. We look forward to defending our position in court.

by Anthony Ha
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Google To Clean Up Its Play Store

Posted on August 2, 2018

Google play logo 2018TECH CRUNCH – July 31 – Google is cracking down on the apps published to the Play Store. An updated version of the company's Developer Policy, released this week, indicates the company will now ban a wider variety of apps including cryptocurrency miners, those selling firearms and accessories, those that aim to trick children into downloading adult-themed apps, and apps built using automated tools or wizard services, or based on templates (only apps that are created by an automated tool and submitted to Google Play by the operator of that service on behalf of other persons are not allowed).

by Sarah Perez
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Tinder Loops Rolls Out Globally

Posted on July 6, 2018

Tinder loops screenshotsTECH CRUNCH – July 5 – Tinder Loops, the recently announced video feature from Tinder, is today rolling out globally. Tinder has been testing this feature in Canada and Sweden since April, when it was first announced, and has rolled out to a few other markets since then. Loops are two-second, looping videos that can be posted to users' profiles. Users can't shoot Tinder Loops from within the app, but rather have to upload and edit existing videos in their camera roll or upload a Live Photo from an iOS device. Users who added a Loop to their profile saw that their average conversation length went up by 20%. The feature seems to be particularly effective in Japan with users receiving an average of 10% more right swipes if they had a Loop in their profile.

by Jordan Crook
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