You’ve heard of Groupon, right? It’s a group coupon site that offers city-specific discounts for restaurants, spas, and gyms. My friends at MainStreet.com recently wrote about a new Groupon rival, or imitator, depending on your perspective:
The success of their site has spawned a fair share of imitators and, as far as Groupon is concerned, blatant rip offs.
The most recent example of this is SocialBuy. Like Groupon, SocialBuy partners primarily with hospitality businesses to offer deals on a ticking clock and is founded on the notion of collective buying. This might not seem so egregious if the layout of the site itself did not also appear to be an exact replica of Groupon (judge for yourself.) When we brought this site to the attention of Groupon’s CEO and founder, Andrew Mason, he did not seem pleased.
“We have a patent on all of this so everything they are doing is illegal,” he said.
What’s the upside for you and me? Keep reading the story.
February 8th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Youswoop is another similar site that recently popped up, especially since Groupon started here in Chicago, I’m sure they are not happy.
February 8th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Mr. Mason needs to brush up on his IP law…
February 16th, 2010 at 6:49 pm
Group buying sites like this have been around since Mercata ten years ago. You can’t patent a business model. Groupon is being petty and egregiously incorrect.