BharatPe and PhonePe, two major players in the fintech industry, have resolved their dispute over the use of the ‘Pe’ suffix.

BharatPe and PhonePe, two leading fintech unicorns, have resolved their protracted legal conflicts over the trademark use of the suffix 'Pe' in their brand names. This settlement concludes a five-year legal battle spanning multiple courts. As part of the agreement, both companies will retract all oppositions in the trademark registry, allowing them to proceed with registering their respective trademarks. Furthermore, both companies have agreed to take necessary actions to comply with the settlement in all cases before the Delhi High Court and the Bombay High Court.

Rajnish Kumar, chairman of the board at BharatPe, praised the resolution, highlighting the professionalism and cooperation demonstrated by both sides to resolve outstanding issues and focus on developing robust digital payment systems. Similarly, Sameer Nigam, founder and CEO of PhonePe, expressed satisfaction with the amicable resolution, emphasizing the benefit to both companies and the broader Indian fintech industry.

The dispute dates back to 2018 when PhonePe issued a cease and desist notice to BharatPe, challenging the use of 'Pe' in Devanagari script. BharatPe subsequently altered its branding. In 2019, PhonePe sought an injunction from the Delhi High Court against BharatPe's use of the 'Pe' suffix, arguing it had become distinctive to PhonePe.

PhonePe escalated the conflict in 2021 by filing an IP infringement suit over BharatPe's use of the trademark "PostPe." However, the Bombay High Court dismissed PhonePe’s petition for an interim injunction, siding with BharatPe. Similarly, the Madras High Court rejected PhonePe's trademark infringement plea against DigiPe, citing the only similarity being the 'Pe' suffix.

PhonePe also appealed to the Supreme Court, which dismissed its plea against DigiPe. The court declined to entertain the petitions, stating they were dismissed as per an order dated May 3.

This dispute is part of a broader trend of trademark infringement cases involving tech startups and major tech companies, such as Tesla's lawsuit against Tesla Power for trademark infringement and MakeMyTrip's unsuccessful plea against Google over alleged trademark infringement through the Google Ads program.