Plentyoffish being challenged (or courted) by Match.com

Earlier today Paidcontent reported that the online dating space is getting ugly and Vancouver's Plentyoffish.com is right in the middle of a new controversy.

IAC’s Match.com is demanding that Plentyoffish stop making along list of claims about its service. Among the statements made by Plentyoffish that Match.com doesn’t think are true: “20,000 people sign up per day; Our members will go on over 18 million dates with other users this year; If you come from a midsized city, there is a good chance there are at least 3,000 people online right now in your city.”

The complete demand letter is embedded below.

 

Paidcontent's Joseph Tartakoff notes that this back-and-forth between Match.com and Pletnyoffish has strong similarities to a dispute between Quicken-maker Intuit and Mint.com a year ago.

Like Match.com, Intuit was a long-time market leader, under attack by a new competitor with a disruptive, free service. Intuit fired off a letter to Mint asking for “substantiation” of claims the company was making about its growth. Ultimately, Intuit must have decided the claims were in fact true because eight months later it purchased Mint.com for $170 million in cash.

If that is the case, this certainly is any interesting way to court a partner - even in the world of online dating.

Hat tip to Brent Holliday.