TORONTO — TD Bank Group’s U.S. subsidiary has filed a lawsuit against Plaid Technologies Inc., accusing the San Francisco-based data aggregator of unlawfully using its logo to trick users into handing over personal data that can later be monetized.
In court records, the bank 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 the interface “dupes” consumers into believing they are entering personal information into the TD Bank’s trusted platform, which Plaid instead stores and mines for valuable data on transaction histories and loans.
The filings also claim Plaid sells the data to third parties, which TD Bank calls unscrupulous and an invasion of privacy.
The bank says it repeatedly tried to work through these issues with Plaid, but is now asking the court to order Plaid to cease and desist its unauthorized use of TD’s name, trademarks and logos when providing its services.
Plaid did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this year, Visa announced it would pay US$5.3 billion to buy Plaid, which offers software that allows developers to interact with banks and credit cards, giving them access to large swaths of personal data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 14, 2020.
Companies in this story: (TSX:TD)
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