TORONTO — Plaid Inc. denies it has used TD Bank’s logo to dupe customers into handing over personal information that the U.S.-based data company could monetize and says it’s disappointed a TD subsidiary has filed a lawsuit against it.
The San Francisco-based company says in a statement to The Canadian Press that Plaid’s role in transactions is made clear to consumers and it is surprised TD’s U.S. subsidiary filed a lawsuit, which it says comes in the midst of ongoing and good faith discussions between the two companies.
The statement stems from a civil suit TD filed in a New Jersey court on Wednesday that accuses Plaid of creating a user interface for financial services applications that infringes on the bank’s trademarks, logos and green colour scheme.
The bank says in the court filings that the interface tricks consumers into believing they are entering personal information into TD Bank’s trusted platform and that Plaid then monetizes that data.
TD Bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The claims made in the filings have not been proven in court.
Plaid and Visa Inc., which earlier this year announced it would buy Plaid for US$5.3 billion, have faced a series of U.S. class action lawsuits accusing the company of selling information obtained through log-ins to millions of customer accounts without disclosing the practice.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 16, 2020.
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The Canadian Press
