Canada's TD Bank has filed a trademark infringement suit against Plaid, accusing the data aggregator of deceptively mimicking its log-in screen, colour scheme and logo to trick users into entering their financial details.
In filings made through a New Jersey court, the bank said that Plaid's interface "dupes" consumers into believing they are interacting with a trusted financial institution.
"In reality, however, consumers are unwittingly giving their login credentials to the defendant, who takes the information, stores it on its servers, and uses it to mine consumers' bank records for valuable data (e.g., transaction histories, loans, etc.), which the defendant monetises by selling to third parties," TD alleges.
TD Bank has filed for a cease and desist order and wants the bank to hand over all profits accrued from using its trademarks. The bank is also seeking $2 million in damages for each type of service sold and distributed by Plaid - which was acquired by Visa for $5.2 billion earlier this year.
Visa and Plaid have so far declined to comment on the action.