“I initially laughed when I got the email because it seemed so silly”Rhys Kentish and his wife Eliffar(Image: Rhys Kentish© SWNS)

Tinder has filed an intellectual property infringement notice alleging its brand was copied without permission – by a man who built an app to celebrate his wife.

Rhys Kentish, 29 – who met Eliffar, 27, after they both studied at the University of Manchester – developed a dating-style app called Tender: Couple Photos & Game where the only option is to swipe right on his wife Eliffar.

The dating giant, which is owned by Match Group, has now claimed that Rhys has breached its intellectual property (IP).

In an email received on Friday, September 5, Tinder said that using the term ‘swipe’ on the app infringed its trademark over the word.

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The email also complained that the name Tender was too similar to Tinder, which could therefore confuse consumers.

Rhys, an app developer in East London, said: “I initially laughed when I got the email because it seemed so silly.

“Aside from being a little funny, it’s quite disheartening to have this corporate beast come after me when I’m just trying to do a kind, caring thing for my wife.”

Rhys Kentish and his wife Eliffar on their wedding day(Image: Rhys Kentish© SWNS)

Rhys and Eliffar first met six years ago at a mutual friend’s birthday party after both had studied at the University of Manchester. They married this May, but Tender isn’t the first app Rhys has built for his wife.

In August last year, he created a bespoke app to propose – sending Eliffar on a treasure hunt around sentimental London spots that ended with him down on one knee.

Rhys said: “I’ve always enjoyed making cheeky little apps to make the internet a bit of a brighter place. So, when I decided to propose to Eliffar, I made an app that would send her all over London to places that meant something.

“She loves the New York Times daily puzzles, so she would solve one to reveal the next location and then there were little challenges at each spot.

“The last challenge just said ‘Say yes’ and I got down on one knee to pop the question.”

Rhys created Tender in early July after Eliffar showed him a tweet joking about how great it would be to have a dating app that only showed pictures of your spouse.

Inspired, he built Tender: Couple Photos & Game and released it on the Apple App Store a week later.

Less than eight weeks later, Rhys received an email from Apple saying Tinder had complained that his app “infringes its intellectual property rights.”

The email said: “We received a notice from Tinder LLC (Match Group) (Tracer) (“Claimant”) that Claimant believes the app listed below infringes on its intellectual property rights.

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“The application infringed Tinder’s trademark and common law rights. In particular, the application makes unauthorized use of “Swipe”, “Swipe Left” and “Swipe Right” in its app description and marketing materials.

“These phrases are distinctive identifiers of Tinder, and their unauthorized use is likely to mislead consumers into believing that the application is affiliated with, sponsored by or authorized by Tinder.

“In addition, the name of the application, “Tender”, is confusingly similar to Tinder’s well-known “Tinder” trademark. This similarity further heightens the likelihood of consumer confusion and misassociation with Tinder’s brand.”

Rhys responded to the complaint and has started the process of changing the term swipe on the app to pan.

But he is also disputing the claim that the names are too similar and that it would cause “customer confusion.”

Rhys said: “I got back to them after the weekend and agreed to take ‘swipe’ off of the app even though I do think it’s a bit much to trademark that.

“But I’m disputing their claim that the names are too similar. My app is called Tender: Couple Photos & Game, whereas Tinder comes up on the app store as Tinder Dating App: Meet & Date.

“I feel that anyone looking for Tinder would be able to tell the difference and hopefully wouldn’t get confused!

“I even use a different icon, my app being a heart and theirs being a flame.”

Rhys is now waiting to hear further news after he responded on Monday, September 8.

Tinder has been reached for comment.