Arbitration Bid Based on Attorney’s Dating App Research Fails

The maker of the dating app Scruff lost a bid to compel arbitration in its patent dispute with Jedi Technologies Inc. in Manhattan federal court based on Jedi’s attorney’s use of the app as part of his pre-suit obligations.

Perry Street Software Inc. sued Jedi for a declaration that Scruff didn’t infringe Jedi’s U.S. Patent No. 10,164,918, covering a system for identifying compatible people in a real-time network like a chat room. Jedi countersued for infringement.

Perry argued the case had to go to arbitration after it learned that Jedi’s attorney Brian Haan had signed up for Scruff, binding Jedi ...