WEX Goes to Court: HP Sued for Alleged Trademark Misuse

WEX Inc. WEX filed a federal lawsuit against HP Inc. HPQ and Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. in Maine federal court for infringing its trademarks.

Notably, in March, HP launched its “HP Wex,” a misappropriation of WEX’s trademarks, and marketing to a customer base similar to WEX, which inevitably confuses the marketplace, as per WEX’s statement.

Jessica Roy, Vice President of Financial Communications, said, “HP’s use of the “WEX” name will inevitably sow confusion in the marketplace.” 

“Given the similarities between the software, fleet and data management, and employee solutions offered by WEX on the one hand, and the “WEX”-branded software, fleet and data management, and employee solutions offered by HP on the other, combined with the overlapping worldwide footprint of both companies, confusion between the two WEX offerings is inevitable—and is already beginning to materialize. We have filed this action to prevent harm to our brand.”

WEX has been using the name since 1989 and formally rebranded to WEX in 2012. Noatbly, WEX said it tried to resolve this dispute amicably, but HP refused to stop using the name and therefore they filed for lawsuit.

WEX intends to seek a preliminary injunction to force HP to discontinue all further infringement of the WEX trademark immediately.

Megan K. Bannigan, Partner at Debevoise & Plimpton and counsel to WEX, said, “HP’s use of the “WEX” name is already beginning to create confusion in the marketplace and will lead customers to believe that HP is either partnering with or has acquired WEX’s widely respected platform and software know-how to market HP’s new services. WEX and its customers deserve protection from the confusion HP’s actions will cause.”

Investors can gain exposure to the stock via BlackRock ETF Trust BlackRock Future Financial And Technology ETF BPAY and Amplify ETF Trust Amplify Mobile Payments ETF IPAY.

Price Action: WEX shares are down 0.27% at $239.92 on the last check Thursday.

Photo: Courtesy of Ulf Wittrock via Shutterstock