Logistics payment platform PayCargo LLC filed for damages against competitor CargoSprint and CargoSprint’s founder and CEO Joshua Wolf in a Georgia federal court on July 19, alleging that the company was engaging in “anticompetitive conduct.”
PayCargo alleged in the suit that CargoSprint used its status as a PayCargo customer to “obtain and unlawfully leverage PayCargo’s confidential information and trade secrets” and is attempting to “replicate PayCargo’s software and related systems functions,” in addition to illegally requiring CargoSprint’s SprintPass customers to exclusively use CargoSprint’s SprintPay.
In its lawsuit filing, PayCargo claims that CargoSprint’s SprintPay program touts the same features that PayCargo offers, including instant, automatic payments; pay alerts; reports with remittance data; the ability for customers to dispute charges; and “white-label integration.”
“All of these claimed features were first key features of the PayCargo System,” PayCargo argued. The company added that CargoSprint also has a program called “CargoSprint Credit,” which “appears to be” a derivative of “PayCargo Credit.”
PayCargo acknowledged that CargoSprint’s “SprintPass” – which coordinates warehouse cargo pick-ups for shippers and handlers – is unique to CargoSprint. However, PayCargo takes issue with CargoSprint’s policy that SprintPass customers must use SprintPay for all cargo transactions.
“The purpose of CargoSprint’s uncharacteristic divergence from PayCargo’s path has since been revealed by CargoSprint’s market conduct: CargoSprint developed SprintPass for the express purpose of creating an illegal and anticompetitive contractual tie between SprintPass and SprintPay,” PayCargo concluded.
According to PayCargo, SprintPass users have asked PayCargo to enable the PayCargo System as a cargo payment service provider for SprintPass, which is a separate service from SprintPay, and that CargoSprint refused. This practice, PayCargo alleged, is harmful to PayCargo business.
PayCargo is requesting “threefold damages, simple interest on actual damages and the cost of the suit,” in addition to an injunction preventing CargoSprint from “engaging in anticompetitive conduct.”
PayCargo previously engaged in “extended dialogue” with CargoSprint over the similarity of CargoSprint’s previous name – “PayAirCargo” – to PayCargo’s name. The companies reached a settlement in 2016 that gave CargoSprint six months to change its name and transfer www.PayAirCargo.com to PayCargo.
