PayPal sues Pandora over logo similarity

PayPal has sued music streaming service Pandora over the similarities between the two companies’ logos. According to Paypal, Pandora has made its logo resemble that of PayPal to take advantage of the fame and popularity of the PayPal logo.

PayPal alleges in the complaint that Pandora is not doing well and that it has therefore changed its logo and deliberately made it resemble the PayPal logo. “Pandora launched the logo in an effort to address serious commercial challenges that threaten Pandora’s survival. As a music streaming service best known for its free service, Pandora has no logical path to profitability and faces overwhelming competition. from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and others, and against this backdrop, Pandora has traded its previous logo for a logo similar to PayPal’s in an effort to keep up with the competition.” PayPal wants the judge to force Pandora to stop using the logo.

Left:PayPal logo, right: new Pandora logo, top right: old Pandora logo

Previously, Pandora used a logo with a different design, where the ‘P’ was presented in a square with the text ‘Pandora’ in it. The new Pandora logo was introduced last October and is very similar to its logo at its core, according to PayPal. Many people reported confusion regarding the two logos, with users often mistakenly opening PayPal’s app instead of Pandora’s and vice versa. In the subpoena, PayPal shows a number of tweets from users who were confused when the new Pandora logo was implemented in October. There was even speculation that PayPal might have bought Pandora.