Social media startup Fizz is suing grocery delivery giant Instacart and party planning app Partiful for trademark infringement, the company announced on Thursday. Earlier this week, Instacart launched a new drinks and snack delivery app for parties called Fizz and announced that Partiful had integrated Fizz directly into its platform.
Founded in 2020, Fizz is a Gen Z-focused social networking app available on more than 400 college campuses.
The suit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeks a jury trial, injunctive relief, damages, and a court order barring Instacart and Partiful from using the “FIZZ” name in connection with social or event planning services.
Instacart and Partiful did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
In the lawsuit, Fizz states that it has been using the “FIZZ” trademark since January 2022 and filed for trademark registration in December 2021. The startup is accusing Instacart and Partiful of common law trademark infringement, federal trademark infringement, cybersquatting, and violating California’s unfair competition laws.
“This new Fizz App by Instacart and Partiful is a blatant attempt to misappropriate the goodwill that Plaintiff has painstakingly developed through its continuous use of the FIZZ Marks among the Gen-Z demographic,” the lawsuit reads. “Together, Instacart and Partiful are competing head-on with Plaintiff in its core market of event planning for the Gen-Z demographic. Instacart and Partiful could have chosen any name for their new venture, but rather than compete on an even playing field, they are using FIZZ.”
Fizz alleges that Instacart and Partiful knowingly launched the new app with the identical name for the same Gen Z demographic, creating a likelihood of confusion among customers who may believe that the new ordering service is affiliated with or endorsed by Fizz.
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The startup also alleges that Instacart and Partiful are exploiting its brand recognition as a known social platform for Gen Z.
“Plaintiff is informed and believes and thereupon alleges that Defendant Instacart had a bad faith intent to profit from the FIZZ Marks when it registered the domain name
Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that Partiful competes with Fizz directly in the events planning space, and that the company is now using Fizz’s name to confuse the Gen Z demographic after failing “to win the Gen Z market through fair competition.”
The lawsuit announced today isn’t Fizz’s first brush with legal action, as the startup sued rival Sidechat in 2023 over unfair competition practices.
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Instacart CEO Fidji Simo is joining OpenAI as CEO of Applications, the ChatGPT maker said on Thursday. Simo, already a board member at OpenAI, will transition out of Instacart over the next few months and join the AI company full-time later this year.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he would continue in his role, overseeing verticals like research, compute and applications. Simo will directly report to Altman.
“Applications brings together a group of existing business and operational teams responsible for how our research reaches and benefits the world, and Fidji is uniquely qualified to lead this group. Serving as an OpenAI board member over the past year, Fidji has already contributed a great deal to our company. She will transition from her role at Instacart over the next few months and join OpenAI later this year,” Altman wrote in a blog post.
Simo will also help OpenAI in scaling “traditional” company functions, Altman said, but he didn’t provide further details.
Simo has years of experience in product management and monetization. Before joining Instacart in 2021, she spent more than a decade at Meta, leading the launch of ads on the News Feed; heading monetization for the Facebook app, overseeing product development for Facebook Video; and helping build its advertising business. She exited Meta as head of the Facebook app. After joining Instacart, she helped take the company public in 2023.
In a post on X, Simo said she would stay on as chair of the Instacart board. In a letter to Instacart employees, she said a current member of the company’s management would replace her as CEO, and an announcement would be made soon.
“Joining OpenAI at this critical moment is an incredible privilege and responsibility. This organization has the potential of accelerating human potential at a pace never seen before and I am deeply committed to shaping these applications toward the public good,” she said in a statement.
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