The dating app Tinder filed a lawsuit against Portuguese startup Swipeless, which organized dinners between strangers to promote the creation of in-person rather than online relationships. The American company considers that Swipeless violated its intellectual property, since the concept of "swipe" (slide) is a central functionality of Tinder for making matches. Tinder subsequently filed an appeal of €30,000 to insist on this argument.
The action was filed in the Intellectual Property Court of Lisbon against entrepreneur Diana Taborda, a master's degree holder in Industrial Engineering and Management from FEUP and assistant to the Chief Technology Officer of unicorn Sword Health. Swipeless was founded in 2023 and had its headquarters in the village of Pedroso, in Vila Nova de Gaia, being owned in equal parts by Diana Taborda and Sandra de Neri Esteves, and by Nuno Tavares Macedo with 20% of the stake.
The platform held in-person meetings in various Portuguese cities such as Porto, Lisbon, Braga, Coimbra, Aveiro, Viseu and Setúbal, on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM. Participants paid €10.99 per ticket and were entitled to a "group match" with games between people of the same age group and common interests, with dinner being paid separately. Swipeless operated in a similar fashion to the French company Timeleft.
Last year, the company had revenue of €1,605 and reported losses of around €345. After contact from ECO with Swipeless's leadership, the company's website and Instagram account were deleted, with only the Facebook and LinkedIn accounts remaining available. Diana Taborda indicated that the following week she would evaluate the case with the legal team, but did not provide further comments.
