Fizz Files Lawsuit Against Sidechat Alleging Unfair Competition and Abuses

Fizz Files Lawsuit Against Sidechat, Alleging Unfair Competition and Abuses

Fizz, the buzzy anonymous social app that’s now being used across more than 80 college campuses, has filed suit against rival Sidechat, alleging unfair competition and a range of abuses, including attempts at disrupting Fizz’s launches, spreading rumors about Fizz having hackers, trademark infringements, sending false spam reports to Instagram and using false pretenses to acquire information on Fizz’s launch strategies, among other things, including paying students to delete Fizz’s app.

Fizz Takes Legal Action

The case was filed in the Southern District of Court against Sidechat owner, Flower Ave. on October 6, 2023. The complaint demands a jury trial, damages and an injunction against Flower Ave.’s interference and its use of Fizz’s trademark.

Sidechat’s Background

Sidechat has been relatively press-shy to date; however, AsumeTech previously confirmed involvement from ex-Snap engineer Sebastian Gil and ex-Snap product designer Chamal Samaranayake — both of whom are listed in an SEC filing for Flower Ave. This March, the company acquired another anonymous social app, Yik Yak, which had been operating under new ownership as of 2021 as the original app had shut down by way of an acqui-hire by Square (now Block) in 2017.

Growing Competitiveness

But with Fizz’s growing traction across Sidechat’s same college campus market, it seems the latter has upped its competitive tactics, if the allegations in Fizz’s filing hold true.

Unfair Tactics

For instance, Fizz says that when it launched at Colgate University in January 2023, Flower Ave. launched the same day by setting up a competing station near the dining hall. There, a Flower Ave. ambassador chanted, “Fizz has hackers” and spread rumors that Fizz would hack student accounts and compromise their

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