<article><a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=Facebook+Inc" target="_blank">Facebook Inc</a>, which recently lost a controversial campaign for &#8216;<a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=Free+Basics" target="_blank">Free Basics</a>&#8216; in India, has landed in another spat after it took down the page of Bangalore-based <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=houzify" target="_blank">Houzify</a>.
The names Houzify and Houzz might appear similar at first. The two companies are also in the same sector of connecting home owners with interior designers.</article>

<a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=Facebook+Inc" target="_blank">Facebook Inc</a>, which recently lost a controversial campaign for &#8216;<a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=Free+Basics" target="_blank">Free Basics</a>&#8216; in India, has landed in another spat after it took down the page of Bangalore-based <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=houzify" target="_blank">Houzify</a>.
The names Houzify and Houzz might appear similar at first. The two companies are also in the same sector of connecting home owners with interior designers.
That was not a problem until December, because they are in different countries and do not operate in each others&#8217; markets. Houzify is based out of Bangalore and is backed by Naveen Tewari, founder of mobile ads platform <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=InMobi" target="_blank">InMobi</a>, and former <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=Infosys+Technologies" target="_blank">Infosys</a> board member Mohandas Pai. It has about 120,000 users.
Houzz, founded in 2009, is a US-based startup that last raised funding in 2014 at a valuation of $2.3 billion. It has over 35 million users. Backers include <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=Sequoia+Capital" target="_blank">Sequoia Capital</a>, <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=DST+Global" target="_blank">DST Global</a> and <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=Kleiner+Perkins+Caufield+%26+Byers+LLC" target="_blank">Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp; Byers LLC</a>. Compared to Houzify, it&#8217;s a Goliath.
<h3>Escalation of controversy</h3>
In December, Houzz took exception to Houzify&#8217;s name and sent it a &#8216;cease and desist&#8217; notice. In other words, it asked Houzify to not use that name, because of its similarity to &#8220;the famous Houzz mark,” according to the notice. Houzify replied, saying that it has pending trademark applications for its name since 2015 in India. It also offered to carry a temporary disclaimer and make slight alteration to its logo.
The copyright issue escalated when Facebook unilaterally pulled down Houzify&#8217;s page. &#8220;Facebook has acted on Houzz&#8217;s complaint of copyright infringement in the US, which is not even applicable in India,&#8221; said Gunaseelan Radhakrishnan, founder of Houzify in a chat with DEALSTREETASIA. &#8220;We are spending about $120,000 for marketing on Facebook. It is our main marketing channel with 52,000 followers. And yet we were given no warning or recourse. How can Facebook be called a neutral platform?&#8221; said Radhakrishnan.
At the time of writing, the page had been replaced with an error message saying the link was broken or had been removed.
&#8220;We are committed to protecting our valuable brand and community from copycats through any available means, including identifying violations of third-party platform policies or when necessary taking legal action,&#8221; said a spokeswoman for Houzz.
Founders of other Indian startups are supporting Radhakrishnan. Sahil Barua, CEO and co-founder of logistics startup <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=Delhivery" target="_blank">Delhivery</a>, said that Houzify&#8217;s allegation indicates that Facebook was acting unfairly. &#8220;Today, Facebook sided with Houzz, tomorrow it could allow another big name to crush a small startup,” he <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-09/india-startup-cut-off-from-facebook-after-u-s-rival-s-protest" target="_blank">said</a> in an interview.
Investor Mohandas Pai also came out in support of Houzify, saying that Facebook&#8217;s action is against the principles of natural justice and shows that Facebook&#8217;s monopoly position can be a danger to Indian startups. &#8220;To remove Houzify&#8217;s page without any investigation into the trademark claims in the country of its founding shows a marked disrespect to protections that are already enforced by IP regulators and courts in India,&#8221; he added.
Houzz is speculated to be planning an India launch in partnership with a local conglomerate. &#8220;In this attempt to enter the world’s third-largest economy, Houzz chose to take the approach of bullying the existing competition out of the way,&#8221; Radhakrishnan said.
In cases of trademark infringement, Facebook typically takes down the page of the company accused of it, while allowing it recourse to remedy the situation or prove that there wasn&#8217;t any such infringement.
Facebook would not want negative publicity in India. It recently lost in its push for the Free Basics service, which offered limited internet access to pared-down websites to users in rural areas. Net neutrality activists and startup founders had argued that the plan was against the concept of free access to the internet, and would put smaller services at a disadvantage.
A spokesperson said that Facebook was investigating the matter and had no further comment.
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India's Houzify gains support after Facebook takes down page on US-based Houzz's complaint

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India's Houzify gains support after Facebook takes down page on US-based Houzz's complaint

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